The bridge over U.S. Highway 421 at Exit 73 was closed for about 24 hours due to a truck fire earlier this week. | Hongao Xu/Wikimedia Commons
The bridge over U.S. Highway 421 at Exit 73 was closed for about 24 hours due to a truck fire earlier this week. | Hongao Xu/Wikimedia Commons
Interstate-95 northbound in Dunn, North Carolina, has reopened about a day after a truck fire and explosion shut down one of the main north-south routes on the East Coast.
One lane was opened to traffic late Wednesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after the box truck caught fire under a bridge. North Carolina Department of Transportation crews were hoping to have the right lane cleared for traffic by Wednesday evening.
The scene reminded one witness, a U.S. army veteran, of a war zone.
“I’m a soldier, so I’ve been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and I ran over IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and have seen IEDs,” witness Dray McDonald told WRAL News. McDonald had taken video of the fire and smoke and said it reminded him of the explosives that terrorists used during the war after 9/11. “Honestly that’s kind of what it reminded me of, just how big the blaze was. That's the first thing I thought of was 'Man, I’ve seen that before'."
While the interstate was closed, traffic was forced to take an exit ramp south of the scene and take surface roads across U.S. 421 before getting back onto I-95 north of the fire.
The truck had been traveling on U.S. 421. It stopped under the bridge that supports I-95 traffic about 2 p.m. Tuesday. There was no explanation of what caused the fire.
After 24 hours of being closed, all lanes of the I-95 North bridge in Dunn are back open. About 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, one lane opened and then about 9 p.m. that night, all lanes were back open.
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