The New Jersey Turnpike is open on Wednesday morning, a day after a fire shut down one of the busiest highways in the country and affected other roads across the state. 

Stopped traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike during Tuesday's truck fire
Stopped traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike during Tuesday's truck fire (CBS New York)
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All lanes of the Turnpike reopened more than 12 hours after a dump truck collided with an abutment on the southbound side under the Wood Street overpass between exit 13 for the Goethals Bridge and exit 12 (Carteret) around 10:30 a.m. State police say the fatality is believed to be the truck's driver, according to the Associated Press.

The northbound truck lanes reopened around 1 p.m., closed again around 2:45 p.m. and were reopened around 3:15 p.m. Northbound drivers were diverted off the road at exit 10 for the Garden State Parkway while southbound traffic was forced onto I-78 at exit 14.

The fire was extinguished but State Police Capt. Stephen Jones said the overpass for South Wood Avenue in Linden  remained closed due to concerns that the flames may have compromised gas and power lines that run under the overpass as well as the structure itself. PSE&G, utility crews and Department of Transportation engineers are making repairs and assessing the bridge.

NJ Turnpike Authority Spokesperson Tom Feeney said engineers did an initial inspection of the Wood Avenue overpass and found no significant damage.

Delays on Route 1 in Edison because of the Turnpike closure
Delays on Route 1 in Edison because of the Turnpike closure (Toniann Antonelli, Townsquare Media NJ)
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Traffic came to a standstill in both directions as the entire highway was closed prompting many people to get out of their car to wait out the closure. Tweets show people sun bathing, throwing around a baseball and playing soccer.

New Jersey Department of Transportation spokesman Steven Schapiro says drivers who were stuck in the initial closure able to continue on their trip.

"Stay away from the Turnpike, traffic is being diverted in southbound direction at Exit 14, which is near Newark Airport and Rt. 78," Schapiro said in an interview with NJ 101.5 on Tuesday afternoon.

"The current issue is the power lines," he said, adding that there are lines hanging just above the road surface. "That needs to be addressed before state police can even get in and do the investigation they need to do."

The closure of the Turnpike affected many surrounding roads including Routes 1 and 9, Route 27, the Goethals Bridge and the Garden State Parkway, where delays stretched for miles. The delays ran well past the evening commute.

PSE&G crews were able to complete work on damaged electrical wires ahead of schedule allowing State Police to reopen all lanes just after 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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