The Monday morning rush hour in Brooklyn was marred by separate tractor-trailer crashes that tied up traffic along several major roadways.
Several injuries were reported in a crash on the Gowanus Expressway just past Exit 19 (Seventh Avenue). None of the injuries are considered life-threatening.
Authorities said the crash occurred at about 5:57 a.m. when the tractor-trailer, which was being used to haul trash to a landfill, failed to properly navigate the ramp from the Staten Island-bound Gowanus towards the Verrazano Bridge, causing it to overturn. The truck then dumped its trash onto the roadway and center divider.
Three cars then struck the debris and caused a chain reaction crash with a box truck belonging to Brooklyn Bread, police said.
Firefighters and police rushed to the scene and took several people, including the driver of the truck, to NYU Langone Medical Center. None of the injuries was serious. Traffic on the Gowanus was brought to a standstill in both directions from New Jersey to Manhattan.
One sanitation official on scene said the driver of the tractor trailer was lucky.
“All he had was some scratches on his face,” the official said. “Look at that truck — how lucky can you get?”
Large tow trucks used cranes to upright the tractor-trailer as damaged cars were removed from the roadway. Sanitation trucks were lined up near the entrance ready to clean the highway as soon as the tractor-trailer could be removed and oil can be absorbed from the vehicle, police said.
The Seventh Avenue curve is notorious for trucks crashing because many drivers take the curve too fast and then overturn, officials said.
In an unrelated incident, a tractor-trailer struck the overpass elevated train station at 86th Street and 25th Avenue in Bensonhurst at about 8 a.m. Monday. The truck was carrying paper goods when it hit the overpass and split in half.
Police from the 62nd Precinct were on scene with a tow truck which remove the truck from under the overpass. Traffic in and around the area was backed up as crews unloaded goods from the damaged truck.
No injuries were reported in this incident.
