Dump Truck Crashes Snarl Traffic Between Vernon and Coventry

VERNON, CT – Two nearly identical lunchtime dump truck rollovers created a traffic mess between a busy highway exchange in Vernon and the gateway to eastern Connecticut through Coventry on Thursday.

The crashes were reported at about 1 p.m. in Vernon and two hours earlier in Coventry.

A truck rolled over adjacent to the McDonald's parking in Vernon, just prior to the Exit 67 Interstate-84 interchange. By 2 p.m., a heavy wrecker was on the scene and traffic was down to one lane, police said.

In Coventry, police and state Department of Transportation officials said Route 31 near Route 44 was closed after that crash.

According to authorities, the truck at a road paving detail, became tangled in wires at a clean-out area and overturned.

The driver was not hurt, but had to wait it out inside the truck for about 30 minutes while a power company crew responded, authorities said.

Cleanup was expected to take several hours, authorities said.

Photo Credit (Vernon crash): Skylar Goold

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