Southwest Freeway at SH-288 reopens after hours-long hay bales spill

HOUSTON – It took crews several hours Monday morning to clean up the thousand-pound hay bales that spilled onto the Southwest Freeway at SH-288.

Around midnight, the Houston police said an oversized truck carrying hay bales struck an overpass, causing the load to fall onto the highway.

While cleaning up the mess, crews shut down the freeway to oncoming traffic, but around 3 a.m., police said a suspected drunk driver drove past the barricades and crashed into a patrol vehicle.

The officer involved suffered minor injuries.

The freeway was closed for several hours while crews cleaned up the hay. The freeway reopened shortly before 9 a.m.