PHOTOS: Tractor-trailer overturns, shuts down part of I-40 for hours

Interstate 40 westbound just east of Highway 161 was shut down Monday, July 25, 2016, after a tractor-trailer overturned and blocked all lanes.
Interstate 40 westbound just east of Highway 161 was shut down Monday, July 25, 2016, after a tractor-trailer overturned and blocked all lanes.

One person sustained life-threatening injuries in two end-of-queue wrecks stemming from an earlier tractor-trailer accident Monday on Interstate 40, according to a state Highway and Transportation Department spokesman.

The initial wreck, reported before 11:30 a.m., involved an overturned tractor-trailer that spilled part of its load of poultry feed on westbound lanes of the highway just east of Arkansas 161 and west of the Protho Junction exit.

Those lanes were shut down in North Little Rock for hours until crews were able to remove the tractor-trailer by 3:30 p.m., highway department Danny Straessle said.

Straessle said highway officials were able to coordinate traffic flow with the city of North Little Rock, manually operating a traffic light as motorists took the Protho Junction exit as a detour onto Arkansas 161.

"It's fortunate that it happened where it did," he said.

[GALLERY: Click here for photos from the scene of the I-40 truck wreck]

Two later accidents resulted from failure to stop in conditions in which traffic came to an abrupt halt, Straessle said. Both were reported in westbound lanes near the Interstate 440 interchange on I-40.

One involved five vehicles — an RV and four passenger vehicles — while details regarding the second, classified as minor, were not immediately clear, according to the highway department.

A person was seriously injured in the five-vehicle crash and transported via helicopter to a hospital, though additional information was not available Monday evening.

The driver of the tractor-trailer in the initial crash, Jerry Lee Williams with Drew Ag Transport Inc. of Greenville, Ohio, had visible injuries to his right arm and shoulder as he provided a statement to a trooper at the scene. No other injuries were reported.

“All I know is, I was sliding into one of those yellow posts, and the next thing I knew I was landing sideways,” he told an Arkansas Online reporter.

“When I stopped, I just saw an opening and I came through it. Took my seat belt off and came out,” Williams added.

As of 5:30 p.m., westbound traffic had reopened in the area and all wrecks had been cleared, according to highway officials. Eastbound traffic was not affected.

Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this story and read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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