Accident involving shrimp truck causes Beltway problems

OXON HILL, Md. -- Two left lanes of the Capital Beltway's Inner Loop are open between St. Barnabas Road and Md. 210 after an early morning accident caused problems for Woodrow Wilson Bridge commuters.

Around 2:30 a.m. a tractor trailer hauling frozen shrimp lost its axles, shutting down lanes all morning.

The truck is gone from the scene but repairs still need to be made to the sound wall that the truck struck.

When the tractor trailer lost its axles, it hit the sound barrier wall and skidded hundreds of yards down the highway.

Along the way, it lost some of its jumbo, cooked shrimp.

The rest of the thawing shrimp had to be loaded onto another truck.

The accident initially closed two lanes and, for two brief periods, close all lanes of the Inner Loop.

The Inner Loop troubles come a day after commuters ran into serious gridlock at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

The dedication of the second span of the Wilson Bridge on Thursday didn't initially close any lanes of the Beltway, but rubbernecking drivers slowed down to see what was going on, making an 8-mile commute an hour and a half long.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)