A semi-trailer fire on Interstate 24 at the 62-mile marker in Trigg County is blocking all lanes Monday afternoon. The semi-fire is near the Cerulean Road overpass between the Cadiz and Blue Springs exits.
Trigg County emergency personnel at the scene said an eastbound tractor-trailer hauling cardboard struck a concrete divider in the construction zone near the 62-mile-marker. The driver of the tractor-trailer was taken by an ambulance to a waiting helicopter to be transported to a hospital for treatment of burns sustained in the wreck.
District 1 spokesman Keith Todd with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says multiple fire departments and agencies responded to the scene along with Trigg County Emergency Management.
Todd says early reports indicate the truck landed on top of the centerline barrier wall, then caught fire.
According to Todd, Interstate 24 is expected to be closed until Tuesday.
Todd says there is a permanently marked detour for this section of I-24 along U.S. 68 and KY 139 between Exit 65 and Exit 56.
Motorists traveling between Paducah and Nashville should consider an extended detour.
This will avoid traffic congestion along the main detour.
Todd says I-69 and the Pennyrile Parkway also provide a detour opportunity between Exit 82 and Exit 43.
Monday’s crash and fire are one of nearly a half-dozen that have occurred during a year-long road construction project on I-24 in Trigg County.
(Tammy Hancock, John Godsey, and Ed Marlowe contributed to this story.)
