18-wheeler hauling yarn wrecks on U.S. 21 mountain

The rig overturned in a curve in Wilkes while coming down the mountain, landing on its right side on top of guard rail along the right side of the road.

State Road Fire Chief Bradley Spicer said it overturned when rolls of commercial yarn attached to pallets and wrapped in plastic inside the trailer shifted in the curve. The yarn was from Magnolia Mfg. on Pine Swamp Road, Sparta. The driver wasn’t seriously hurt, but the rig was a total loss.

Spicer said that except for about two hours when three tow trucks were used to upright the wrecked tractor-trailer and when yarn was moved to another tractor-trailer, only one lane of the two-lane highway was closed to traffic. The tow trucks were from D&J Truck Service and Towing and J&J Garage, both in North Wilkesboro.

Traffic was detoured using Traphill Road, the John P. Frank Parkway and Oklahoma Road. Spicer said it was very foggy then.

The Cherry Lane Fire Department provided traffic control at the intersection of Oklahoma Road and U.S. 21 at the top of the mountain in Alleghany.

Near the base of the Blue Ridge escarpment, traffic control was provided by the State Road Fire Department at the intersection of U.S. 21 and Traphill Road and by the Traphill Fire Department at the intersection of the John P. Frank Parkway and Traphill Road.

N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Zach Jennings investigated.

Spicer noted that one or two similar tractor-trailer wrecks typically occur every year on U.S. 21 where it climbs he mountain.

He said three or four have been rigs hauling yarn from Magnolia.

The section of U.S. 21 between the Traphill Road intersection and the Oklahoma Road intersection is about 5 miles long.