A truck carrying $187,000 worth of nickels crashed, killing one person and scattering the coins across an interstate.
"It's shiny across the roadway," said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller after Wednesday morning's accident. "There are nickels in the grass, across the interstate."
The southbound lanes of I-95 in Brevard County on the state's central east coast were closed for several hours as authorities used Bobcats and other heavy equipment to scoop up the coins.
Miller said the coins were on their way from Philadelphia to the U.S. Treasury in Miami, where they were set to be distributed to Florida banks.
The crash involved two tractor-trailers, WESH-TV reported. The truck carrying more than 3 million nickels, owned by IBI Secured Transport, rear-ended an Apex truck. The Apex truck hit ran off the road and hit a guardrail. The truck carrying the money overturned, which killed the right front-seat passenger.
The driver of the IBI truck was airlifted to a local hospital. The driver of the Apex truck was transported to Parrish Medical Center in Brevard County and was treated and released.
The Secret Service and U.S. Treasury went to the scene to determine how to pick up the loose change "and to make sure nobody touches any of the nickels," Miller said.