Gravel truck knocked over on Tappan Zee Bridge, causing massive delay

A gravel truck crashed and spilled on the Mario Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge early Wednesday morning, causing massive headaches for Hudson Valley commuters.

The truck was traveling southbound toward the city when it was involved in a crash with two other cars , the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported.

No one was seriously injured in the wreck, but the truck was knocked onto its side , spilling gravel across the heavily trafficked roadway.

Morning delays stretched for miles, slowing commuters by 90 to 120 minutes, according to the Journal News. The left and center southbound lanes were closed for hours, while authorities opened the right lane to traffic shortly after the crash.

By the afternoon, traffic had cleared up , according to live tracking from 511. The truck was removed from the road about two hours after the wreck.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation .

Tractor-trailer wrecks have caused havoc on tri-state area roadways several times this year, resulting in lengthy delays and occasionally weekend-long closures.

In late July, a tanker truck carrying flammable material slammed into a highway wall on Route 3 in Clifton, N.J. The collision ignited a towering inferno, killing the driver and shutting down the highway for hours as emergency crews dealt with the damage.

And in early May, a fuel tanker truck crashed and burned on Interstate 95 in Norwalk, Conn. , igniting in a three-vehicle wreck directly underneath an overpass. Though no one was killed or seriously injured in that accident, the bridge was heavily damaged and closed for multiple days.

Authorities worked quickly to remove the overpass, which was damaged on a Friday morning, reopening I-95 in time for morning commuters the following Monday.