Tractor-Trailer Drive Shaft Strikes Vehicle On Everett Turnpike

NASHUA, NH — Parts of the Everett Turnpike in Nashua was closed to traffic for about three hours as state police and firefighters cleared the scene of a tractor-trailer accident and fuel spill. According to New Hampshire State Police, at around 12:30 a.m. this morning, a tractor-trailer truck, operated by a 53-year-old man from Union City, New Jersey, sustained a "catastrophic mechanical malfunction" that caused it to come to an abrupt stop while blocking two lanes of the highway around Exit 5. The mechanical malfunction jarred loose a portion of the drive shaft which broke a fuel line, noted Lt. Bryan Trask of Troop B.

The drive shaft then struck a sedan being driven by a 35-year-old man from Lowell, Massachusetts.

"Both vehicles came to a stop in the right two travel lanes and the tractor-trailer spilled approximately 20 gallons of fuel on the road," Trask stated. "There were no injuries sustained in the crash and the spill was contained by the Nashua Fire department and evaluated by the Department of Environmental Services."

The right two lanes of the highway were closed on July 2, 2019, for around three hours while the truck was removed and the spill cleaned up.

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