Multiple pile-ups, 10-mile long backups leave truckers stranded on Ark. I-40 for nearly 12 hours
Multiple pile-up crashes left truck drivers stuck at a standstill on Interstate 40 in Arkansas Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
The accidents happened on February 17th but drivers were still stuck in the same spot by the following morning, February 18th.
According to THV 11 News, one truck driver from Raleigh was stuck in the I-40 traffic for over 12 hours, and says he’s never seen anything like this before in his 20 years of trucking. But the trouble didn’t start in Arkansas.
Andrey Kellon says he was stuck at a standstill for around an hour outside of Memphis and had planned to stop, but every truck stop was so packed that drivers were parked along the exit ramps.
“I finally stopped at one, but there were trucks everywhere, so I got back on the interstate to try to find another,” Kellon said. “At about 8 p.m. last night (Wednesday), this traffic just came to a complete stop a little bit west of Brinkley.”
“I stayed awake until like 10:30-11 p.m., and then dozed off a couple of times,” Kellon said. I didn’t want to go to sleep and then wake up to somebody knocking on my door. Then at midnight I decided to go to sleep because nothing has changed yet. “
Luckily, Kellon says he has enough fuel to idle for another 3 days if necessary
“I’m warm inside. The heat’s perfect. I’ve got a little fridge in here with food and stuff to drink so I’m good. It’s just, I had a delivery at around 8 a.m. this morning and now it’s not gonna happen… I’m just waiting on the traffic to break.”
As of 1 p.m., the area was still recovering from the extended standstill traffic.