A semi rolled over at about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday on northbound I-5 near Federal Way. Earlier, a tractor-trailer hit a guardrail in Seattle and hung over the freeway’s edge. It was a slow go on the freeway and on alternate routes.
Two crashes involving semi-trucks jammed traffic on northbound I-5 Tuesday morning.
A semi carrying a load of pears rolled over at about 6:40 a.m. near Federal Way, blocking the interstate’s two northbound right lanes and partially blocking the offramp to 320th Street.
The wreck came after an earlier crash on northbound I-5 near Corson Street in Seattle. In that collision, a semi-truck with two trailers hit a guardrail at about 4:30 a.m. The truck’s cab was hanging over the elevated roadway’s edge for more than an hour.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Webb said the freeway’s two left lanes were closed near the Seattle crash and there was a diesel spill that needed to be cleaned up. The driver had only minor injuries, Webb said.
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Maintenance crews were checking a barrier that was hit and a bridge connected to that barrier, said Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Allende.
With two semi-truck wrecks on Interstate 5, the drive from SeaTac to Seattle stretched up to an hour during rush hour.
At 7 a.m., as traffic started to build, Allende encouraged drivers heading north to Seattle to take Highway 99. “If there’s anything they can do to avoid NB I-5, I’d do that,” he said.
He said drivers heading north of Seattle should take I-405.
“I would expect some pretty gnarly congestion,” Allende said. “I would leave early and give as much time as you can.”