Illinois State Police reopened I-57 at the Dix interchange overpass at 7:30 Tuesday night following seven hours of cleanup after a four semi-truck chain-reaction collision.
While there is no official information being released at this time, initial reports from the Jefferson Fire Protection District indicate three of the southbound trucks had slowed for construction activity on the Dix-Irvington Road overpass and the fourth could not and crashed into the rear of the first slowed truck setting off a domino effect.
First reports around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon indicated one of the truck drivers may have been trapped, but it was quickly learned all four drivers were out of their rigs and had escaped injury.
Part of the early reason for the long delay in clearing the wreckage was difficulties in getting wreckers onto the northbound overpass that has no shoulders to travel around the backed-up traffic. Two of the trucks involved were able to be driven away, while a third truck has been towed away. The fourth truck hauling kitty litter had to be unloaded due to the amount of damage to the trailer.
Firemen say that some of the kitty litter containers were actually opened up and spread onto the highway to stop the flow of oil and fuel leaking from the truck. Once the unloading was completed, the truck was towed and the roadway was cleared of debris so traffic flow can resume.
There was also another crash at northbound mile marker 98 four miles south of Dix where a car rear-ended another semi in the construction zone. The driver was reportedly transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of injuries. That wreckage has been cleared.
While later traffic was being diverted off the Interstate at Route 161, heavy traffic volumes caused southbound traffic on Route 161 and Route 37 to come to a standstill at times. Some southbound truck traffic was also diverted westbound on Route 161 through Centralia as well. Traffic also came to a standstill on southbound I-57 as far north as the Salem exit at times.
State Police with the help of an IDOT truck help to get southbound traffic off I-57 during crash cleanup at the Dix exit. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
