42,000 Pounds Of Chicken Closes Tennessee Interstate After Truck Overturns

Normally if a major interstate shuts down, it's due to a pretty severe crash that takes officials hours to investigate and clear of debris. On Thursday (March 3) night, however, one interstate running through Tennessee was blocked by more than 20 tons of frozen chicken.

According to WATE, a commercial truck driving along Interstate 40 overturned in East Tennessee's Roane County around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. While that wreck in itself would cause traffic to halt, the cargo it was carrying cluttered the scene even more as boxes containing 42,600 pounds of frozen chicken spilled out at Mile Marker 348 near the Harriman exit.

Mark Nagi, community relations officer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, shared photos of scene with an almost endless stream of boxes spilling out of the overturned truck.

Drivers traveling along I-40 at the time rans afoul (or a-fowl?) of the scene, as the overturned truck and its hundreds of boxes blocked the left lane in both directions. Fortunately, the scene was cleared quickly, the news outlet reports. By 10 p.m., the westbound lane had reopened but the eastbound lane was still blocked.

As of 11 a.m. Friday morning, the chickens had fled the coop and the roadway was cleared for traffic.