SAN ANTONIO, TX – Frustration was measured by the mile for drivers who were trying to travel south on Interstate 35 near Schertz Wednesday morning.
Schertz police said an 18-wheeler jackknifed across the southbound lanes near Schwab Road after it was hit by an out-of-control pickup around 4 a.m.
The crash led to a fuel spill on the highway, which caused traffic to spill onto the access road. As a result, morning commuters were left sitting in traffic for hours.
"Very hectic,” Melaina Cavanagh, a driver, said. “We're coming from the other side of Seguin trying to get to San Pedro (Avenue) in San Antonio. It's taken us about two, two-and-a-half hours to get to the other side of Schwab Road."
Pulling off the road to take a smoke break helped Cavanagh and her husband keep their cool.
Manuel Gomez, meanwhile, nearly blew a gasket due to the delay.
"I’m just trying to get to work, and sitting on the road for so long, it started overheating on me,” Gomez said, while looking under the raised hood of his overheated pickup.
Gomez's truck broke down a few miles short of his destination in Schertz. He said he was stuck in traffic for more than two hours while making a trip to work that usually takes about 30 minutes.
It took most of the morning for traffic in that area to return to normal again.
No one was seriously injured in the crash, but one of the drivers was taken to a hospital as a precaution, Schertz police said.