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Tractor-Trailer Jackknifes, Crashes In Outbound Lanes Of Fort Pitt Bridge

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There was a large mess for crews to cleanup along the Fort Pitt Bridge early Tuesday morning. It took them hours to cleanup an oil spill and pick up the debris after a tractor trailer crashed.

On Tuesday morning, no traffic could be seen along the Fort Pitt Bridge after a tractor-trailer jackknifed on the lower level of the bridge.

It happened around 4 a.m.

Fort Pitt Bridge Accident
(Photo Credit: Lindsay Ward)

According to state police, the driver was merging from the "Bathtub" area when he began to lose control. He crashed into the barrier on the bridge, fish-tailed, then crashed again.

The tractor trailer sustained major damage to the front.

Once it was towed away, crews got a better look at what was left behind. Pieces from the truck were scattered all over the bridge and oil was spilled along the roadway.

Fort Pitt Bridge Accident
(Photo Credit: KDKA Photojournalist Brian Smithmyer)

Cleaning up the mess is what took crews the longest. Lanes heading toward the Fort Pitt Tunnel were not open until 7 a.m.

Watch as crews clear the roadway:

 

Meanwhile, just a few hours earlier along I-76 between Cranberry and Beaver Valley, a tractor-trailer crashed in a construction zone.

State police say the truck slammed into a bridge pillar just after 2 a.m. They tell KDKA, the trailers were carrying a beverage substance, which spilled. Hazmat was on scene to help clean up.

In both crashes, there were no injuries, but it did back up traffic for sometime.

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