Driver of truck that crashed in tunnel, causing gridlock: 'Beyond my control'

BOSTON — A truck crash in the O'Neill Tunnel caused major backups on Interstate 93 south Thursday morning.

The truck that crashed was carrying a container from Canada to Rhode Island, according to the owner of the trucking company, Snap Truck. The owner also apologized for the incident and said it was not intentional. The containers they typically carry are 20-feet-long, the owner said, and they are looking into whether a taller container could have been loaded.

The driver, Bryan Elliot, says the trip from Canada had been smooth until he entered the tunnel in Boston.

"All of a sudden I came to a dead stop. Just boom. That was it and it stopped," said Elliot.

Truck that clipped tunnel, causing gridlock, was carrying container to RI Truck that clipped tunnel, causing gridlock, was carrying container to RI

No one was injured in the crash but commuters experienced miles-long backups as traffic crawled through one lane in the tunnel as the debris was cleared.

"I have not seen it this bad ever."

"Just backed up cars. Not moving at all. Just a parking lot."

Boston 25 Morning News traffic reporter Catherine Parrotta reported some drive times reaching well over two hours.

State Police gave Elliot a ticket for driving an oversized vehicle.

The company's owner told Boston 25 News over the phone: "We apologize for any inconvenience we caused this morning. This is something we would never intentionally do."

Boston 25 News pulled the federal records for the company which show it had been inspected 13 times since December 2016 and has 33 violations for such things as unsafe driving and inoperable/defective brakes.

This is what it looked like when the truck and container was removed from the tunnel:

O'Neill Tunnel truck crash 11.8 O'Neill Tunnel truck crash 11.8

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