Chaos ensued on Portland's Morrison Bridge Tuesday morning as a semi-truck rollover crash forced the shutdown of a crucial off-ramp, causing traffic delays that lasted for hours before the scene was finally cleared in the afternoon. According to Multnomah County, the eastbound off-ramp to SE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was rendered impassable when a semi-truck, complete with its heavy load, toppled over and came to rest against the barrier, an obstacle that proverbially threw a wrench in the daily commute of countless drivers who found themselves rerouted and delayed.

In response to the upheaval, officials directed motorists to find alternative paths around the blocked artery, a detour that for many meant an unexpected detour on what would otherwise have been an ordinary day of traversing the concrete veins of the city, KATU reported. The ramp, popular among those venturing south from downtown or merging from I-5, was soon the subject of traffic reports and frustrated social media updates.

The crash, which took place on Tuesday morning, left authorities and cleanup crews grappling with the wreckage and working diligently to restore normalcy to the thoroughfare. Their efforts culminated successfully close to 4:30 p.m., when the county announced the reopening of the off-ramp, as OregonLive elaborated.

While the immediate inconvenience of the crash has been mitigated with the off-ramp's reopening, traffic analysts and bridge officials remain in the dark regarding the circumstances that led to the semi's dramatic tumble. The cause of the crash yet remains a mystery, a question mark hanging over an otherwise closed chapter of urban disturbance, as suggested by KOIN.