On Monday morning, traffic was snarled for miles on northbound I-5 due to two crashes near Ridgefield.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue, AMR and Washington State Patrol actively responded to the crash scene at about 8:46 a.m. to a pickup truck and tractor-trailer collision. The accident had stopped northbound traffic in the area. The incident took place near Milepost 20 at the northbound I-5 bridge over the Lewis River. No one received injuries in the first accident, officers informed.
About an hour later, officials responded to a tractor-trailer accident in the back-up from the first collision. Two tractor-trailers, one carrying a load of pallets, collided at about 9:56 a.m. near Exit 14 in Ridgefield under the Pioneer Street Overpass. According to the reports, one of the trucks swerved off the highway and caught fire. The flames spread to the other truck and surrounding brush, but firefighters were able to contain most of the fire damage to one truck.
One driver was transported to the hospital with critical injuries. Two of the three northbound lanes reopened as of 11:15 a.m. Authorities expected to reopen the third lane shortly after. Traffic was backed up for 7 miles with slowing back to the I-205 merge till 2 p.m. Authorities mentioned that the entire freeway had opened to traffic moments before 2:15 p.m.
An investigation Is ongoing at this time.
July 20, 2021
Source: columbian.com
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