Dump Truck Drives Off Bridge In SW Dade

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Traffic on the Florida Turnpike in Miami-Dade County came to a halt Wednesday afternoon after a dump truck plunged off of a bridge and landed on the road below.

Tatiana Rodriguez says she got off the school bus and saw the crash. "The  first thing we heard was the wall of the highway breaking," she said.
As the truck caught fire some rushed toward it trying to help.

Bill Berendsohn said, "we ran up here and we tried to get in there, but it's just so intense you can't even get in. The flames are billowing and the smoke is 50 feet in the air.  It was an inferno."

The accident shut down traffic in both the northbound and southbound lanes for a little while, but southbound lanes opened shortly before 5pm.

Two northbound lane remained closed as rush hour traffic began to back up as far as SW 216th St.

According to Florida Highway Patrol,  the driver of the dump truck likely lost control after blowing a tire. He made it out of the vehicle unhurt.  No one else was injured either.

Sgt. Tom Pikul said, "a big heavy truck like that, we're always concerned with other drivers on the roadway as well as drivers on 168th street.  It's great that nothing else happened and it's a single vehicle accident."

"The peak of rush hour and nobody got killed," said Berendsohn, "it was a miracle."