Two people suffered minor injuries Tuesday afternoon when their GMC sports utility vehicle was pinned between an 18-wheeler and the guardrail of the Interstate 10 Twin Span bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. The accident involved four vehicles.

The wreck, according to Louisiana State Police spokesman Louis Calato, slowed westbound traffic on the bridge to a crawl for over 90 minutes, causing a long line on the interstate that backed up to the Old Spanish Trail on ramp.

Calato said a truck carrying sand driven by Gregory Parker, 48, of Picayune, Miss., clipped the rear of another 18-wheeler  driven by Eric Holten, 31, of Poplarville, Miss., around 1:30 p.m. just past the high-rise section of the Twin Span.

An SUV was crushed between a truck and the guardrail on the westbound section of the I-10 twin span bridge Tuesday afternoon. The driver and passenger of the SUV suffered minor injuries. The driver of the truck was cited for careless operation of a motor vehicle by the State Police. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

Parker lost control of his truck, went into the other lane and hit the SUV, driven by Tina Kirkpatrick, 42, of Pass Christian, Miss. The SUV also had a passenger, Ramanda Hicks, 29, of Waveland, Miss. Parker’s truck pinned the SUV against the guardrail and dragged it about 20 feet. Parker’s truck then hit the curb and the cab went airborne and came down on the back of a 2002 Daewoo sedan driven by Juanita Gammage, 52, of Laurel, Miss. The Daewoo also had a passenger, Henry Sane, 57, also of Laurel.

Rescue personnel from St. Tammany Fire Services District 1 were able to get Kirkpatrick and Hicks out of the SUV. Their injuries were described as “minor,” and they were both taken to Northshore Regional Medical Center for treatment.  No one in the semis or the Daewoo were injured.

Deputy Fire Chief Mike Thiel said there was a lot of oil and gas on the road, but the sand from the truck soaked up most of it off the roadway.

Because of the accident, westbound traffic was diverted off I-10 at the Oak Harbor exit, and the intersection of Oak Harbor Boulevard and Marina Drive turned into a parking lot as people waited for traffic to clear.  

The State Police had the accident cleared by 4 p.m., Calato said.