ROCHEPORT, Mo. — Beer and cattle contributed to the frustration as crews spent hours clearing a crash on the Missouri River bridge west of Columbia.
The highway reopened around 3:45 p.m.
The crash involved a loaded cattle trailer, a pickup, and at least four other vehicles. It forced emergency crews to close the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 before 11 a.m. Eastbound traffic was down to one lane because of emergency responders helping clear the the crash.
Wrecker crews worked through the afternoon to untangle and remove the vehicles involved in the crash.
They also had to unload the cattle from the hauler before it could be moved out of the way. The process took so long that other cows overheated in the traffic jam. Firefighters from a nearby department responded to spray down and cool the animals, according to troopers.
Video shared by the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows the other tractor trailer involved in the crash was hauling pallets of Bud Ice beer.
The video shows machinery dumping the beer cans into a dumpster as some of the beer spilled onto the bridge deck and likely into the water below.
Troopers said traffic on I-70 was backed up 13 miles in the eastbound lanes and seven miles in the westbound lanes before the highway reopened.
Emergency crews are focused on handling the situation and have not said yet if anyone was injured in the crash.