Truck hits sound wall; Las Vegas freeway closed for hours

From staff and wire reports

Published Friday, July 1, 2016 | 9:32 a.m.

Updated Friday, July 1, 2016 | 12:24 p.m.

A key freeway near downtown Las Vegas has reopened after being closed for more than four hours by a tractor-trailer crash, officials said.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Buratczuk said no one was injured when the truck jackknifed in the rain and hit a sound wall about 3:45 a.m. Friday on southbound U.S. 95 near Eastern Avenue.

The truck driver wasn’t hurt.

The driver’s insurance will be responsible for the damage to the sound wall, which is estimated at about $50,000, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. The hole is expected to be fixed within the next couple of days.

Buratczuk said traffic was diverted off the highway near the Spaghetti Bowl and Las Vegas Boulevard while a spill of about 100 gallons of diesel was cleaned up.

Pieces of the concrete structure crashed to the street below, landing on an unoccupied truck that was parked in a driveway, officials said.

A crash involving a semi-truck happened earlier this year close to the same location.

“We had two accidents in a similar area, so we are going to start doing some tests to determine what can be done to remedy some of that,” Department of Transportation spokesman Tony Illia said. “We’re thinking it’s a little bit of an older roadway and sometimes roadways get smooth and lose friction or grit, making it easier to slide.”

Las Vegas Sun reporter Kailyn Brown and the Associated Press contributed to this report.