“The driver drove several hundred feet between the main road and the service road after leaving the highway,” Department of Public Safety Cpl. Charlie Morgan said.
The rig ended up in a riverbed, Troy Police Chief Keith Reed said. Black smoke from the fire billowed across the highway.
It was unclear what cargo the truck was carrying.
Traffic backed up from Troy to Temple in the northbound lanes of I-35. Southbound traffic slowed as drivers attempted to catch a glimpse of the wreck.
Northbound, “traffic was diverted off the interstate onto the service road,” Reed said.
Reed said Friday evening he expected traffic to continue to be a problem while they waited for engineering crews to check on a nearby bridge that may have been affected.
“This always happens when there is a fire of that magnitude,” Reed said.
Crews from the Troy and Bruceville-Eddy volunteer fire departments extinguished the fire. Judge G.W. Ivey pronounced the man dead at the scene.
