CULLMAN — Traffic came to a standstill on Interstate 65 Friday morning after a pair of wrecks shut down the southbound lanes of the highway for about four hours total.
The wrecks also caused congestion on Cullman County Road 55 through Falkville as motorists rerouted to U.S. 31 to avoid the tie-ups.
The first crash happened around 8 a.m. and involved a commercial vehicle near mile marker 313 in Cullman County, the Alabama Department of Transportation said. The crash left a tangled section of guardrail blocking the southbound lanes and approximately 50 gallons of diesel fuel spilled on the pavement.
An ALDOT crew responded to the wreck, cut and removed the damaged guardrail and other debris from the road. The crew also spread sand to absorb the fuel spill while wreckers removed the crash vehicles.
The roadway reopened at 10:25 a.m.
In the meantime, State Troopers reported a crash around 10:15 a.m. that temporarily closed both southbound lanes of I-65 near Exit 322 (County Road 55 in Falkville) in Morgan County. The inside lane of I-65 opened about two hours later.
There were no injuries reported in either wreck.
For updates on traffic conditions and lane closures, motorists can check algotraffic.com or the ALGO Traffic app.
