CASSIE TOMLIN/Arizona Daily Wildcat A police officer questions a truck driver yesterday afternoon after his truck dumped bales of hay in the street when he attempted a u-turn. The mishap caused Campbell Avenue near Speedway Boulevard to be closed for half an hour.

Hay truck overturns in front of UMC, delaying traffic for hours

A two-trailer hay truck tipped over yesterday stopping traffic in front of University Medical Center for two hours and spilling hay onto North Campbell Avenue.

The driver was trying to make a U-turn when the back of the front trailer hit the front of the back trailer, throwing the front trailer onto its side and causing bales of hay to fall onto the street, said Sgt. Marco Borboa, Tucson Police Department spokesman.

The driver was cited for making an unsafe turn and for losing his load, Borboa said. No one was hurt in the accident and no other cars were damaged.

However, the University of Arizona Police Department and TPD did have to block traffic on northbound North Campbell Avenue between East Speedway Boulevard and East Elm Street for about two hours while the bales of hay were cleared out of the street, Borboa said.

Joe Lovell, who is visiting from Indiana, was walking his dog when he noticed the overturned truck.

"When I got here the trailer was at a 45-degree angle on its side," Lovell said, "I bet the driver's embarrassed. This is a mess."

Police directed traffic while workers moved the hay bales to a side street and shoveled up loose hay.

The traffic block did not seem to affect patient entrance into UMC.

Katie Riley, from the UMC public relations office, said the UMC administration did not even know about the accident. She said the blocked traffic must not have been an issue for the hospital.