Traffic on a major artery through D.C. has reopened after a 4.5-hour closure, which came because a large beam fell off a truck and into the roadway, hitting a car.
Dave Dildine, in the WTOP Traffic Center, said the incident happened a little before 2 p.m. in the northbound lanes of D.C. 295, just before Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue in Northeast.
D.C. Fire and EMS said a truck carrying the two beams, each about 4 feet wide and 20 feet long, hit a railroad bridge. A minivan hit either the beams or the truck, causing non-life-threatening injuries to someone inside, the fire department said.
The truck continued on and left the scene, the fire department said.
Traffic was diverted onto Benning Road, Dildine said.
There was heavier than usual outbound traffic on New York Avenue and Minnesota Avenue through Northeast D.C. during the closure. Eastbound traffic on the Southeast-Southwest Freeway backed up to near the 14th Street Bridge.
According to Dildine, the bridge has been struck by oversize trucks and loads before, including at least once in June 2016.
