UPDATED WRECK NEWS: All Eastbound I-40 lanes open after one-car wreck injures 11 people

UPDATED WRECK NEWS: All Eastbound I-40 lanes open after one-car wreck injures 11 people

All eastbound lanes on Interstate 40 in Dickson County are open near mile marker 179 after a truck wreck involving 11 people shut down the highway at around 10:30 a.m., according to Tennessee Highway Patrol reports from the scene. All were adults.

An extended-cab truck carrying 11 passengers swerved off the road and into a rock wall at around 10:30 a.m. Eastbound traffic was closed on I-40 at mile marker 179 for more than an hour. / James Bendall/For The Herald

 
Two people were flown by two separate LifeFlight helicopters to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. The remaining nine were transported to Horizon Medical Center in Dickson.

Traffic was backed up an estimated four miles on the eastbound lanes from mile marker 179. The westbound lanes were unaffected.

The extended-cab truck was carrying 11 people from Centerville headed to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind. for a Christian retreat, according to the THP. Five of the passengers were sitting in the bed of the truck and it didn't appear as though any of the passengers were wearing seat belts, a THP trooper said.

A trailer being pulled by the truck got a flat tire and caused the truck to swerve off the road. The truck went over the guardrail and slammed into a rock wall, according to the THP.

There were no deaths reported, but two people were severely injured.

– Herald staff


Nashville Tennessean
9:52 PM, Jul. 5, 2011