One person was killed, a fire ignited and a traffic standstill took place for hours after a dump truck traveling along the New Jersey turnpike crashed at the Wood Avenue overpass in Linden near Exit 13A on Tuesday at around 10:30 a.m.
State police Capt. Stephen Jones said the truck driver is believed to be the sole fatality. Traffic lanes were closed and a fire was ignited and the overpass and its gas and power lines may have been compromised, he added, according to the Associated Press.
New Jersey Police revealed that the northbound truck lanes were briefly reopened hours after the crash and were not reopened again until 10 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney, however, revealed all other lanes were closed until at least early Tuesday night because of the power line issues and the ongoing investigation, according to the New York Daily News.
While all of this was going on, some drivers got out of their cars and interacted with other people. Some of them pulled their beach chairs and sat on the sun while others threw footballs.
Northbound traffic was diverted at Interchange 10 for truck lanes and Interchange 11 for car lanes, while southbound traffic was directed off at Interchange 14, according to Philadelphia Daily News.
