Sunshine Skyway bridge traffic slowed by vehicle fire

Commuters who took the Sunshine Skyway bridge, particularly those who drive south, found it slow going this evening because of a vehicle fire, according to our coverage partners at Spectrum Bay News 9.

A Dodge Ram 5500 was traveling south when it experienced what the Florida Highway Patrol called “a mechanical issue when its driveshaft broke off and caught fire.”

The driver, a 27-year-old man from Bradenton, “dismounted the vehicle” and it rolled backward into a tractor-trailer, the agency said in a news release Monday evening.

All southbound lanes were closed as a result of the incident, but at 6:11 p.m. the outside southbound lane reopened, troopers said.

The Dodge driver had minor injuries, the release said. The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 34-year-old man from Miami, was not injured.