A tractor-trailer hauling produce smashed an Interstate 81 guardrail and flipped, forcing police to close a northbound lane of the highway for about five hours Tuesday morning, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said. The lane, at mile marker 123, reopened about 7:35 a.m. after workers cleared vegetables and debris from the vehicle, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.

The tractor-trailer, driven by Fazil Yilmaz of New York, hit the left guardrail on the northbound side of the highway at 2 a.m., the sheriff's office said in a statement. The truck flipped onto its side and the trailer split, the sheriff's office said.

Charges are pending against Yilmaz, the sheriff's office said.

-- Amanda Codispoti