From The Dunn Daily Record
DUNN – A fire that closed a bridge on Interstate 95 Tuesday afternoon will likely affect traffic patterns until Wednesday morning.
Emergency crews closed the northbound Interstate 95 bridge over U.S. Highway 421 in Dunn around 2 p.m. after a box truck caught fire underneath the overpass. That section of 421 is now being used as a work-around to help interstate traffic bypass the bridge that remains closed. All northbound traffic traveling into Dunn from the Plain View community will be diverted onto Interstate 95, just past the bridge, and redirected to Dunn via the Jonesboro Road exit (Exit 75).
The bridge may be closed until the morning, according to Gary Whitman, director of Dunn Emergency Services. It is set to remain closed until transportation officials inspect the damages caused by the fire.
The truck was hauling refrigeration parts. Its driver was heading north into Dunn on Highway 421 and was stopped under the northbound bridge when a fire consumed the cab. The driver escaped unharmed.
Police, firefighters and EMS were called to the scene and found the truck engulfed in flames. Fire and smoke licked up both sides of the bridge and eventually incinerated most of the truck’s cab.
Northbound traffic at Exit 73 was stopped as crews worked to extinguish the fire. Traffic backed up for miles past the Pope Road exit (Exit 72) and Long Branch Road exit (Exit 75) around 2:30 p.m. and was getting heavy on Pope Road and U.S. Highways 301 and 421 as travelers left the freeway to bypass the closure.
Minutes later, the interstate traffic was diverted off of I-95 and across Highway 421 to relieve the congestion.
The fire was extinguished and no injuries were reported as of 2:45 p.m.
Department of Transportation crews were called to check on the safety of the bridge.
