Truck driver dies in crash near Hillsborough. I-85 reopens; NC 86 will stay closed.
One person was killed after an overnight crash on southbound Interstate 85 in Hillsborough.
The driver of a Mack tractor-trailer veered off the highway, hitting the N.C. 86 overpass before crashing around 2:15 a.m., according to N.C. Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Brian Martin. No other vehicles were reported to be involved in the crash.
The truck’s driver died at the scene, Martin said. ABC-11 reported that he was carrying a load of chickens when his truck overturned.
The driver has not yet been identified and his next of kin has not been notified, Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Alicia Stemper said Wednesday morning in an email.
The N.C. Department of Transportation reopened both lanes of southbound I-85 to traffic around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, easing traffic congestion that caused traffic backups in central Orange County and up I-85 into Durham County throughout the day.
The Sheriff’s Office posted on Twitter that the bridge over N.C. 86 would remain closed for at least two more days until NCDOT bridge inspectors give the all-clear.
The Orange Rural Fire Department, which had trucks on the scene within five minutes of the reported crash, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that smoke and flames were visible when firefighters arrived from multiple agencies.
The truck was “engulfed in flames and a high volume of fire (was) impinging on the bridge,” fire officials said in the post. “Crews attacked the fire and gained access to the location of the cab but there were no survivors.”
Clayton’s Garage & Wrecker Service was working before noon to load the damaged truck and its cargo on a flatbed and clear the roadway, fire officials said. The state DOT bridge inspector and his crew also had arrived to assess damage to the bridge, crew members on the scene told The News & Observer.
The crash also caused delays for GoTriangle’s 420 bus route between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill Transit officials said.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 8:44 AM.
