A fire erupted on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway near Gowanus after a tractor-trailer driver collided with a car on Friday afternoon.
The drivers crashed around noon near the Hamilton Avenue exit, sending smoke billowing over the thoroughfare as firefighters battled the blaze.
Three people were injured in the ordeal, according to a spokesman for New York’s Bravest. Two were treated at the scene and one was taken away in an ambulance, he said.
Pedestrians watched the scene unfold on walkways above the expressway, catching a front row view of three lanes of cars that were backed up hours, sending spillover traffic onto surrounding streets and snarling travel throughout the neighborhood.
Photo by Paul Martinka