Crash, trash on I-40 in Raleigh creates worst morning commute in years

The truck's load spread across eastbound and westbound lanes, causing backups through the morning. At one point, delays on I-40 westbound were estimated at about 54 minutes.

“This is one of those situations where we had one of the busiest roads in the Triangle largely closed for a busy morning commute with no great alternate routes, and it added up to one of the worst commutes that we have seen in many years," said WRAL News anchor/reporter Brian Shrader.

The eastbound side of I-40 saw heavy backups right around the Cary Towne Boulevard interchange through I-440. On the westbound side, delays formed near Hammond Road.

It took until around 9:45 a.m. for traffic to resume moving smoothly. There were no injuries reported.

Police said the truck appeared to have been carrying mostly trash, and no toxic or dangerous chemicals were involved in the spill.

“It looked like chaos on the scene to be honest – trash and everything and debris," Thurston Floyd said.

He was two hours late to work after an Uber driver canceled his trip, then he got caught in the congestion.

“It normally takes me 15 minutes to get to work. This morning it took me 45 minutes," he said.

Raleigh police cited the driver of the truck with failure to maintain his lane, but they did not release the name of that driver or the company that owned the truck.