Truck Accident Causes Millions of Dimes to Scatter on Texas Highway

For about 14 hours, a significant stretch of the road was closed as workers labored to gather an unexpected spread of brand new coins.

It was a bizarre sight reminiscent of a shattered piggy bank disgorging coins across the ground.

This unusual cleanup followed the early morning overturn of a massive truck on U.S. Route 287 near Alvord, Texas, located roughly 50 miles from Fort Worth.

The disaster released a cargo of eight million dimes, a truth confirmed by Sgt. Josue De La Cerda of the state’s Department of Public Safety.

The vehicle, tasked with delivering newly minted coins for the U.S. Mint, crashed, leading the Wise County E.M.S. Rescue team to respond promptly at 5:15 a.m. Both the driver and passenger endured non-life-threatening injuries and were subsequently discharged from medical care.

It wasn't until after an arduous 14 hours that the road lanes finally reopened to traffic.

During this period, teams deployed powerful vacuum trucks typically used for extracting waste, in conjunction with manual labor using shovels and bare hands, to retrieve the multitude of scattered dimes.

Mayor Caleb Caviness of Alvord remarked on the unusual nature of the cleanup, finding humor in the use of sewage and water vacuums to collect the currency.