ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — All lanes of I-85 North in China Grove were closed after a crash near exit 68 in China Grove Sunday morning.
Drivers have been stuck for hours in traffic after a tractor trailer crash around 2 a.m. Sunday.
Traffic was eventually detoured onto exit 63 to Lane Street to US-29 North. Southbound traffic was not affected by this closure.
The accident turned the roadway into a parking lot, leaving people stranded in their cars through the night.
No injuries have been reported.
NCDOT said the accident was cleared around 11:40 a.m. -- over nine hours after the crash. The hours spent during clean-up and repairs left many people stuck on the road frustrated.
People caught in the back-up were left sitting on the roadway — some tweeting out pictures of red brake lights lined up for as far as they could see.
Some sat in traffic for more than five hours before getting turned around to take a detour.
"Our gas light come on as soon as we stopped," one driver told NBC Charlotte. "If we left the truck running, we done run out of gas so we just cut it off, not thinking it'd be that long, crank it up about every 30 minutes turn the heat on. I was scared to go to sleep cause I thought traffic would just, just take off, you know, wasn't expecting it to be that long."
NCDOT says the overturned tractor trailer damaged several sections of barrier wall equipment that had to be repaired.
In addition, several vehicles were abandoned in the roadway and had to be removed before lanes could be reopened.
NBC Charlotte is still waiting to hear back from Rowan County officials and highway patrol for more information about the cause of the crash and the status of those involved.