SALISBURY – Traffic was backed up Tuesday on northbound Interstate 85 for more than six hours after a tractor-trailer driver struck an axle from another truck that wrecked moments before.
Davis Thomas, 33, of Lexington, was driving a UPS truck carrying two trailers  traveling northbound near exit 83 and 84 or N.C. 150 just before 7 a.m.
Thomas said the wind caught the back trailer and made him go off the right, where he struck a guardrail, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper T.L. Gillespie.
Officials received the call at 6:54 a.m.
The guardrail knocked the back axle off the trailer. The axle came to rest in the northbound side of the road.
Another truck, a tractor-trailer, driven by Bobby Holder, 62, of Sophia in Randolph County, came along and struck the axle, the trooper said.
The second tractor-trailer belonged to MCA Reliable Source Inc., based in Iowa. The truck ran off the road to the right and into an embankment.
Thomas was charged with failing to maintain lane control. Holder complained of back injuries.
The right lane of I-85 was blocked, leaving only the left lane for traffic, which was backed up to exit 79 in Rowan County. The lanes were opened at 1:30 p.m.