Tractor-Trailer Spills Magazines, Snarls DC Beltway For 8 Hours

BETHESDA, MD — A tractor-trailer hauling bundles of the New Yorker magazine lost control on I-495 early Tuesday morning, closing multiple lanes and snarling rush-hour traffic.

The accident happened at about 2:30 a.m. on the Capital Beltway's Inner Loop near Connecticut Avenue. No one was injured in the process, according to Pete Piringer, spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. But the mess it left behind caused a traffic nightmare.

The jackknifed tractor-trailer spilled magazines across the roadway and closed the Inner Loop near the Mormon Temple for eight hours.

This wasn't the only accident on the Beltway Tuesday morning.

(~230a) IL I495 just past Connecticut Ave, IAO Morman Temple, property damage only. No hazmats cargo - (New Yorker) magazines only, no fuel spill. If it's wet SLOW DOWN!, some lanes BLOCKED pic.twitter.com/4NALi67Kr9
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) July 23, 2019

Three other crashes, including one that killed a person, also snarled traffic.

The fatal accident occurred at about 2:30 a.m. between New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard, Piringer said. Maryland State Police told WTOP that the single-vehicle crash on the westbound side of I-495 killed one person and injured three others.