That traffic jam on I-85 south? It was spilled pig guts

Drivers heading south on Interstate 85 or west on Wilkinson Boulevard faced massive traffic jams Tuesday afternoon and evening, and the Gaston Gazette reports it was all because a tractor-trailer full of pig guts overturned.

The truck tipped over and spilled its load at 3:21 p.m. at the exit Belmont-Mount Holly Road of I-85, creating “a powerful, unique smell that could be described as pork-scented garbage,” reporter Adam Lawson wrote.

The traffic jam lasted hours. At 6:45 p.m. vehicles heading west toward Gaston County were backed up past the Charlotte-Douglas airport.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 10:04 PM with the headline "That traffic jam on I-85 south? It was spilled pig guts."