A tractor-trailer rolled onto its side Saturday morning after a three-vehicle crash shut down northbound Interstate 495 near Exit 14, sending one person to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries and forcing traffic through the breakdown lane for much of the day.
Massachusetts State Troopers from the Middleboro barracks responded to the reported crash at approximately 8:42 a.m., according to WJAR/NBC 10 News. Reports differ on exactly where the crash occurred: turnto10.com placed it on I-495 North at Exit 14 in New Bedford, while the Fall River Reporter said troopers responded just before 8:45 a.m. to a crash near Exit 14 in Middleboro.
The crash involved two passenger vehicles and a tractor-trailer that had rolled onto its side, per turnto10.com's reporting. One of the people involved was transported to a local hospital for serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, the outlet reported, citing the police account of the incident.
Lanes Reduced to a Single Breakdown Shoulder
Police said Exit 12 and the northbound stretch of I-495 were closed to complete cleanup of the roadway, with the breakdown lane allowing traffic to pass, according to turnto10.com. That squeeze point persisted well into the evening: the same source's report via the Fall River Reporter noted that as of 6:45 p.m., the breakdown lane remained the only operable lane from roughly Exit 12 through Exit 14.
Northbound I-495 saw disruptive tractor-trailer incidents in Andover in November 2025, nearly a year earlier.
Northbound I-495 has seen its share of disruptive tractor-trailer incidents in recent months. Last November, a tractor-trailer crash near Exit 97B in Andover spilled gravel across the northbound lanes around 7 a.m., prompting a full shutdown of the highway while crews responded, according to Boston 25 News. That closure produced gridlock stretching back to Chelmsford during the morning commute, with MassDOT warning of delays lasting several hours, the station reported; the highway reopened shortly after 10 a.m.
A separate, more serious crash in Andover involving two tractor-trailers and a car seriously injured three people, according to Andover Ma News. That crash was reported around 5:40 p.m. near mile marker 95.7, and traffic backed up as much as eight miles in the northbound lanes as emergency crews worked the scene.
