A Fairhaven man suffered life-threatening injuries when his van collided with a dump truck on Route 140 in Taunton, one of two incidents that snarled the Monday morning commute in Southeastern Massachusetts, State Police said.
The 46-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was driving a Ford Transit van northbound on Route 140 when he struck the back of the truck near the Stevens Street interchange, according to State Police Trooper Dustin Fitch.
The driver of the 2005 Mack dump truck, a 40-year-old New Bedford man, was not hurt.
Fitch said a medical helicopter took the van driver to Rhode Island Hospital .
Advertisement
The crash, at about 7:05 a.m., forced closure of Route 140 for about 25 minutes. State Police were able to open a single lane around 7:30 a.m., Fitch said. Authorities cleared the scene by 8:45 a.m. The cause of the crash is under investigation by State Police, he said.
About three hours earlier, Route 24 northbound was closed near the rest stop in Bridgewater as firefighters doused a 2015 Freightliner tractor-trailer that caught fire, Fitch said. The driver of that truck was not injured, but the fire eventually consumed the entire tractor unit, he said.
Fitch said the fire appeared to have started in the Freightliner’s brakes and then spread into the cabin. The cause remains under investigation.
Route 24 was partially reopened by 5:10 a.m. and fully just before 6 a.m., he said.
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.