Hot dog spill shuts down highway in Pennsylvania commuters’ wurst nightmare
Aug 1, 2025, 2:09 PM
Rescue crews clean up a truckload of hot dogs that spilled out of a tractor-trailer on Friday, August 1, 2025, along Interstate 83 in Shrewsbury, Pa. (Shrewsbury Volunteer Fire Company via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Shrewsbury Volunteer Fire Company via AP)
SHREWSBURY, Pa. (AP) 鈥� A truckload of hot dogs spilled across a Pennsylvania interstate Friday after a crash that briefly clogged the heavily traveled artery in both directions.
Crews were stuck with a job they did not relish 鈥� rolling up the scattered tube steaks for disposal.
鈥淥nce those leave the truck and hit the road, that鈥檚 all garbage, and it鈥檚 still pretty warm,鈥� Shrewsbury Fire Company Chief Brad Dauberman said.
State police said the tractor trailer had an unspecified mechanical problem on Interstate 83 a few miles north of the Maryland line as morning rush hour was wrapping up, causing it to push into a passenger vehicle. When the truck scraped along a concrete divider, its trailer was ripped open and the contents scattered.
Four people required medical attention, Dauberman said, for injuries that police said were not life-threatening.
A front-end loader was used to scoop up the hot dogs and drop them into a dump truck.
Dauberman said emergency crews couldn’t help but see the humor in the situation, and his daughter texted him a photo of a hot dog-themed T-shirt.
鈥淚 can tell you personally, hot dogs are very slippery,鈥� the fire chief said. 鈥淚 did not know that.鈥�
