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The driver told police that his load of frozen food shifted and the rig tipped on the flyover where Routes 17 and 287 meet in Mahwah around 7:30 a.m. He was uninjured.
The flyover connection has been a constant nightmare and headache for motorists as well as emergency responders for years.
This time, the road remained closed at that point into the late afternoon as boxes of tater tots, mozzarella sticks and stuffed jalapenos were offloaded from the rig, which still remained on its side.
Traffic, meanwhile, was backed up for miles.
It was the second tractor-trailer crash of the morning in the area.
Around 4 p.m., a box truck driver had pulled onto the side of the road to grab breakfast just down the road on Route 17 in Saddle River when a FedEx tractor-trailer clipped his vehicle and overturned, responders said.
That driver required medical attention after complaining of shoulder pain, they said, adding that the box truck driver wasn't injured.
The highway was initially closed before a single lane of traffic was allowed to get by.
Heavy-duty wreckers were needed to remove both tractor-trailers.
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