STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Crews drag cattle up a steep embankment Tuesday after a tractor-trailer crashed on Jae Valley Road close to the Roanoke County-Franklin County line. There were 88 animals on board. The driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and has not been charged.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Crews work to save cattle Tuesday on Jae Valley Road. The cattle were being transported from a farm in Wirtz. About 15 were euthanized.

A tractor-trailer hauling more than 80 head of cattle overturned Tuesday in Roanoke County, killing 58 of the animals and highlighting concerns about a road where several trucks have wrecked in the past few years.

The wreck happened near the Franklin County line on Jae Valley Road (Virginia 116), a winding mountain road that many truckers coming from Virginia 122 in Franklin County use as a shortcut.

Roanoke and Franklin counties' boards of supervisors this summer began the process to restrict truck traffic on the road. It could take until next summer.

Roanoke County police officers investigating Tuesday's wreck said the northbound tractor-trailer was traveling downhill on a curve when it fell on its side and skidded off the road.

The truck went through a guardrail and came to rest almost upside down against several trees on a steep embankment.

The driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and has not been charged, police said.

Police did not say how fast the driver was traveling.

Tow trucks were called to stabilize the truck while a crew of firefighters, veterinarians and the animals' owner unloaded the 88 head of cattle from the tractor-trailer.

Veterinarians set up a triage and treated the surviving animals, which had suffered cuts and were in shock, said Ondrej Becvar, a clinical instructor with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

About 15 of the cows had to be euthanized because of their injuries, he said. The others that died suffocated from the weight of the other cattle. The dead cattle were taken to a rendering facility, Becvar said.

The cattle were being transported from Altice and Sons Farm in Wirtz, police said. No one with the farm could be reached Tuesday.

The road, closed for about 13 hours before it reopened about 8:15 p.m., has long been a headache for residents who complain that large trucks shouldn't be on it.

"There is too much traffic, and too many big trucks," said Ernest Snyder, who lives in the area.

According to reports presented to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors in July, there have been at least 24 wrecks involving tractor-trailers or other large vehicles on Jae Valley Road since 2005.

Over the same period, there have also been nine reports of tractor-trailers becoming stuck in tight turns on the road.

Since the Roanoke County board began looking at the issue two months ago, both it and Franklin County have been working on identical resolutions to restrict large vehicles from using the road.

Vinton District Supervisor Mike Altizer, who asked for the resolution, said he expects a draft will be presented to the board in October.

"This is something that really, truly, has to be changed," he said.

If both boards adopt the resolution, the Virginia Department of Transportation will study the area and hold public hearings on the matter. It will forward its findings to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which will decide whether to grant the request.