Two large spools fall off semi, forcing motorists to scatter

Two large spools were knocked off a semi truck and left in the middle of a Houston highway on Monday, making it the second time in a month that spools of equipment have been loose on the city’s freeways.

The incident happened on November 12th on Interstate 10 at Wayside in Houston, Texas.

According to ABC 13 News, 57-year-old truck driver Walter Pene was hauling his load along I-10 west when he went beneath an overpass and “felt a bump.” He then checked his mirrors and quickly realized that he had struck the top of a bridge, sending his load of fiber optic casing crashing off his trailer and onto the freeway, blocking two westbound lanes.

The scene caused major traffic backups as crews worked to remove the enormous spools from the road, but the incident has since been cleared.

Officials say that the spools weighed around 18,000 pounds each, similar to the faspool knocked loose on the same highway back in October, which sent motorists scattering as it rolled down the highway.

The Texas Department of Transportation says that overheight loads are a major issue in Houston and that Pene was cited for the incident.