A truck flipped over and its spilled its cargo of scrap metal along the Tappan Zee Bridge Friday morning, grinding the commute to a halt and causing a traffic nightmare.

The truck crashed just before 9 a.m. on the northbound side, shutting down all lanes in that direction for hours. State Police Lt. Lawrence Miler says one of the truck's axles broke, causing it to topple under the immense weight of its load.

Traffic was backed up for miles in both directions, especially along I-287.

The truck driver was not injured. No other vehicles were involved.

It took crews about five hours to remove the rig and clean up the mess.

One lane of traffic of northbound traffic reopened shortly after 1 p.m. All lanes reopened around 1:30 p.m.