By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
There were no serious injuries, but an overturned flatbed truck caused massive headaches for Jake Alexander Boulevard motorists Friday afternoon and evening.
The accident happened about 4:45 p.m. Friday when a tractor pulling a flatbed trailer turned from Julian Road and headed west on Jake Alexander.
In making the turn, the truck’s 44,000-pound load of baled cotton shifted, causing the vehicle to overturn.
The westbound lanes of Jake Alexander were blocked until almost 8 p.m. One of the road’s eastbound lanes was also closed.
Sgt. Paul Johnston of the Salisbury Police Department said the problem in getting the truck upright was that the vehicle first had to be drained of its fuel and its load of cotton then had to be transferred to another trailer.
After that, air bags were used to set the tractor and trailer upright.
“We don’t have a truck that size roll over out there every day,” Johnston said. “It’s quite a challenge to get a flatbed back up.”
Westbound traffic was re-routed along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Johnston said that in terms of volume of traffic, the accident couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“Traffic is just tremendous both ways out there on a Friday night,” he said.
Johnston said the officer who investigated the accident wouldn’t have a report available until Monday.