A tractor-trailer carrying empty wine bottles snarled traffic when it overturned early Wednesday morning on the southbound Interstate 5 Bridge, causing the span to close for about five hours.
The rig drifted to the right and struck a concrete barrier, a monument and a pedestrian gate near the north end of the bridge, said Bart Treece, spokesman for the Washington State Department of Transportation. The rig then veered to the left and overturned, spilling boxes of wine bottles onto the roadway and blocking all three lanes. The crash was reported at 2:13 a.m.
The driver, Singh Lakhvir, 46, of Kent, faces a charge of second-degree negligent driving, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Crews worked for hours to right the truck and clean up the broken glass, said Don Hamilton, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The truck was removed by 6:45 a.m. and the bridge reopened just past 7 a.m., after crews tested it to make sure it was safe and operable, Hamilton said. Precautions included conducting a test bridge lift before reopening the roadway.
“There was some damage to the electrical system that they were testing out,” Hamilton said.
During the closure, traffic was directed east onto state Highway 14 to Interstate 205. The crash caused heavy traffic on all of Clark County’s major arterial highways, including stop-and-go southbound traffic on I-205 backed up to the I-5 split in Salmon Creek.
Reopening the southbound I-5 Bridge, Treece said, was an impressive combined effort by crews from both states. Even though the crash cleared at 7 a.m., traffic remained heavy for a few hours through the morning commute.
More crashes
Several other reported crashes added to traffic woes on local highways. At 6:16 a.m., there was a crash on I-205 southbound at the exit to state Highway 500 westbound. In that incident, a Toyota pickup approaching Padden Parkway slowed for traffic and was rear-ended by a Harley Davidson motorcycle, the state patrol said.
The motorcyclist, Gordon Weddle, 53, of La Center, was treated at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center and released later on Wednesday. The pickup driver, James Peacock, 52, of Battle Ground, was not injured.
Weddle was cited for following too closely.
Just before 10 a.m., there was a crash on state Highway 14 westbound near Southeast 164th Avenue in east Vancouver.
At 10:44 a.m., there was another crash on the I-205 exit to Mill Plain Boulevard. In that case, a Chevrolet Impala was taking the exit when another vehicle changed lanes close to the Impala. The Impala’s driver, Deborah Depreta, 63, of Vancouver, lost control of her vehicle, which went to the right and rolled onto its top.
Depreta was treated at PeaceHealth Southwest and released later in the day. The state patrol is investigating the crash and hasn’t identified the driver of the other vehicle.
Crews continued testing the I-5 bridge system — the signs, lights and horns — Wednesday afternoon. The gate that comes down to stop traffic when there is a bridge lift was damaged and has to be replaced, Hamilton said.
During tonight’s planned maintenance closure on the I-5 Bridge, crews will probably do some more work to repair the damage caused by the crash.
The southbound span, which opened in 1958, is the newer of the two I-5 Bridge spans.
