Car Hauler Catches Fire on Major Hudson Valley Interstate [PIC]

Commercial-size car carrying trailers are often used to ship new or used cars from manufacturer to auto dealerships. They generally haul around 5 to 9 vehicles at a time, but are limited to an 80,000 pound weight cap under U.S. law. it can be a bit daunting getting stuck behind one of these massive vehicles, particularly on a narrow road where visibility is limited.

But try to imagine one these things going up in flames?

Truck Carrying Cars Catches on Fire 

The Purchase Fire Department posted on their Facebook page that the front end of a tractor, as well as multiple vehicles on a car carrier had caught on fire on the ramp that leads to a major interstate. The fire broke out early Wednesday morning on the entrance ramp from leads from I-287 to to I-684 in Westchester County, according to offcials.

Luckily, there were no injuries, though the cause of the blaze is not yet known.

More Vehicles Hit this Bridge Over Any Other One in NY State

Talk about deja vu. This bridge, not too terribly far from Wednesday's fire, has been the scene of multiple crashes through the years.

According to the Greenwich Time, the King Street bridge on the border of Rye Brook, NY and Greenwich, CT., where the Hutch becomes the Merritt Parkway, has been struck more times than any other bride in the state of New York. The Times said in 2019 that the bridge has been struck almost 150 times in just the past ten years.

This does not include some of the most recent crashes since 2019. This truck carrying butter hit the King Street bridge and burst into flames in October 2014.

Soda Truck Crash in the Hudson Valley

Westchester County Police say a truck 45 thousand pounds of soda crashed into the northbound side of the King Street bridge on the Hutchinson River Parkway. Officials did not indicate how much of the soda spilled out on to the road, though the crash closed the right lane Tuesday morning for a while.

The Same Thing Happened Last Year

Nearly the exact same scenario took place in February 2021. The Westchester County Police Department shared on their Facebook page that day, that a truck hit the very same bridge, causing a large amount of aluminum cans to spill all over the Hutch.

From the posted pictures on Facebook, you can see hundreds of cans strewn all over the road, causing heavy delays. It almost appears to be cans of Coca Cola at first glance, though a few commenters claim it's Mountain Dew Kickstart. The truck may have been traveling the road illegally, for commercial vehicles are not allowed on parkways.

Bridge Strikes Across the State

Steps have been taken in recent years to put more warnings on the face of the King Street bridge, and more signs on I-287 to warn trucks from getting on the Hutchinson Parkway. However, according to data collected by the state Department of Transportation and the Thruway Authority, vehicles struck bridges in New York state at least 344 times in 2021.