Traffic was backed up for more than 11 miles on an interstate in Washington on Tuesday afternoon after a semi truck wrecked while avoiding a brake checking motorist.
The accident happened on February 8th on Interstate 5 in Dupont, Washington.
According to Fox 13 Seattle, a semi truck was heading south on Interstate 5 from Mounts Road when a four wheeler merged in front of it and suddenly slowed down. The trucker avoided striking the motorist by swerving to the left and ended up colliding with the roadside barrier. The force of the impact caused the rig to overturn, ripped open the trailer, and spilled several 7,500 pound rolls of paper out onto the roadway.
Here are some visuals from the scene by our Incident Response Team.
— WSDOT Tacoma (@wsdot_tacoma) February 8, 2022
📍Southbound I-5 at Mounts Road in DuPont.
🚧Southbound traffic remains reduced to two lanes and the ramp from Mounts Road to SB I-5 is closed. @wspd1pio pic.twitter.com/3Tvto2iZP2
The incident forced crews to reduce the interstate to two lanes as they cleared the wrecked truck and massive rolls of paper. Backups stretched as far as SR 512 in Lakewood, 11 miles away and officials warned drivers to “pack your patience.”
Crews were able to get the semi truck upright by 6:30 p.m. The roadway has since been reopened. It is not clear if any citations were issued as a result of the incident.