A tractor-trailer crashed on I-91 northbound in Hartland, Vt., on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. (Photo courtesy Matt Billy Whyte)
A tractor-trailer crashed on I-91 northbound in Hartland, Vt., on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. (Photo courtesy Matt Billy Whyte) Credit: —Maggie Cassidy


Hartland — Transportation officials say Interstate 91 northbound traffic could remain reduced to one lane in Hartland for “a week or more” after a tractor-trailer struck a bridge guardrail this morning and came to rest partially over the Ottauquechee River.

“Expect delays,” said the Facebook announcement from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

Spokeswoman Jacqui LeBlanc said the truck “ripped the bridge rail off the bridge.”

“That is not a simple fix,” LeBlanc said, relaying information from District Administrator Tammy Ellis. “The post anchors will have to be reset and the rail rehung.”

Vermont State Police this afternoon said nobody was injured when the 2008 Kenworth tractor-trailer driven by Arcot Smith, 38, of Bloomfield, Conn., drove off the east side of the road at about 6:18 a.m. and struck the guardrail. 

“Once contact was made, Smith was unable to steer the truck off the guardrail,” police said. “The vehicle damaged a large section of guardrail on the bridge spanning the Ottauquechee River before coming to rest with the truck partially over the bridge with the trailer remaining in the roadway.”

Police did not say what caused Smith to hit the guardrail. The vehicle, owned by RED Technologies, was totaled. A “small amount” of fuel leaked but was contained by fire officials, police said.

Vermont Agency of Transportation advised the road will be “reduced to a single lane in the area of the crash for an extended period of time while repairs are made to the guardrail.”

Separately, a crash in the southbound lane later in the day killed one person.

Published at 8:55 a.m. Updated at 2:25 p.m and 5:40 p.m.