Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a serious crash Thursday morning that closed a section of Highway 401 for hours.

At around 3 a.m., a tractor-trailer crashed and ended up straddling the concrete barrier near the Bayview Avenue exit.

The driver was taken to hospital on a backboard with serious injuries but he is expected to recover.

Police are investigating what caused the driver to veer across several lanes and into the barrier separating the east and westbound lanes.

Authorities reopened the highway just before 7 a.m. after closing two lanes of the highway in both directions.