ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A crash south of International Golf Parkway shut down lanes on both sides of I-95 on Friday morning during rush hour.
All of the southbound lanes were blocked after a dump trailer spilled its load onto the highway. The Florida Highway Patrol said the 24-year-old driver was seriously injured.
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FHP spokesperson Sgt. Dylan Bryan explained that the dump truck was headed north on I-95 around 7:30 a.m. when it had a blowout and overturned in the median, spilling its load on the southbound lanes and taking out about 300 feet of the guardrail.
The “split load” in the dump trailer was half gravel and half powdery marcite, which is a traditional cement-based pool plaster, Bryan said.
Firefighters worked to clear the far right lane of the debris so that traffic could get by, and one lane reopened shortly before 8:30 a.m.
By 10 a.m., crews had the dump trailer righted, but traffic was being forced onto the right shoulder to get around the debris as crews continued the massive clean-up effort.
Bryan explained that the material hardens when it gets wet, and around the time the lane reopened, it started to rain. The lanes fully reopened, still visibly covered in a white substance, by 11:30 a.m.
A van headed north on I-95 was hit by debris from the truck’s tire after the blowout, but the man and two women inside were not hurt, FHP said. All three were wearing seat belts.