BY JERRIE WHITELEY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

A mechanical failure is being blamed for a fiery tractor trailer wreck Wednesday afternoon that sent one man to the hospital and left others sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Nabors said, "According to the driver of the (semi), there was a mechanical malfunction that caused him to run off the right side of the road and he struck a bridge pillar at the River Road overpass (on U.S. Highway 69/75) just inside Oklahoma"

He said the driver was transported to Texoma Medical Center in Denison but was treated and released.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is going to close this overpass and the River Road exit, and it will remain closed until Thursday, Nabors said.

He said inspectors will determine exactly how much damage was done by the fire and collision.

The outside lane of U.S. Highway 69/75 northbound is also going to remain closed, Nabors said, to allow the clean-up to continue. He said the truck was hauling aluminum auto parts. They, along with the truck and trailer, burned.

On Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Highway 69/75 traffic was being routed northbound on Franklin Street in Colbert and the southbound traffic was being routed on to State Highway 91 in Denison.