KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A tractor-trailer carrying 35,000 pounds of candy overturned early Friday morning.
At 5:26 a.m. on Interstate 40 East, a tractor-trailer flipped on its side and blocked the off-ramp to the highway by Papermill Drive, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Workers immediately started working to clear the tractor-trailer.
TDOT officials estimated that the overturned tractor-trailer would be clear by 1 p.m., however -- work continued well into the afternoon until it was eventually cleared around 7 p.m.
A driver of one of the tractor-trailers was traveling east towards Papermill Drive and swerved to avoid hitting something in the roadway, Knoxville Police said. The vehicle then went into a ditch, hit the concrete barrier on the left shoulder and crashed into another vehicle, authorities said.
The other vehicle was parked on the right shoulder of the exit ramp. The driver was removed from the semi-truck and was transported to UT Medical Center for injuries that weren't serious, KPD said. Nobody was in the second vehicle.
The off-ramp is by Elevation Knoxville, a residential area and Pond Gap Elementary School.