The crash shut down traffic for more than seven hours and caused kilometres of back-ups along the busy interstate.
A dramatic image captured from a Virginia Department of Transportation
(VDOT) camera showed the crashed tractor-trailer appearing to be leaning on an overhead highway sign.
Traffic, which was being diverted at Exit 205, was backed up more than 9km as of about 2pm local time, according to VDOT officials.
Drivers were “encouraged to seek alternate routes to avoid significant delays” until the interstate’s left lane reopened around 4.45pm.
Ian Foster was among those who drove past the aftermath of Thursday morning’s crash that led to kilometres of backups.
“Just saw the accident. Terrible damage on the sign,” Foster said.
“It’s been years since I’ve seen a backup quite that far, right?”
The semi was headed west when its raised bed slammed into the overhead sign near mile marker 200 as it approached the I-64/I-295 split.
Virginia State Police said the crash happened shortly after 9.30am.
“The cab continued on and then stopped, obviously, because it had separated from the bed of the tractor-trailer,” Matt Demlein, a spokesperson for Virginia State Police, said.
“We’re still investigating as to what led up to it actually hitting the sign. It was empty at the time.”
Troopers do not know why the bed was raised or how long it was up before the crash.
But officials said the truck had stopped at a weigh station earlier, which is equipped with cameras.
No one was injured and the driver, a 62-year-old man, was cited for reckless driving, officials said.
Work crews were able to dislodge the bed from the sign around 11am, allowing an hours-long cleanup process to begin.
Several hours after the crash, westbound traffic remained closed so cars still stuck in the aftermath were being told to turn around and use a section of the highway to move eastbound.
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While even further east on I-64, troopers set up a roadblock to divert traffic at the Bottoms Bridge exit.
That created a backup that stretched for almost 10km at one point.
Foster, who was driving in the other direction on his way home to North Carolina, said it was fantastic that no one was hurt.
He works in the construction industry and said he has seen similar situations with other big trucks and that there should be safety precautions in place to prevent things like this.
“You get ahead of yourself sometimes and get out there,” Foster said.
“I mean, it could happen to any of us, right? So you just have to be careful.”