UPDATE: 3:05 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6
Two drivers were hospitalized after a car slid on Interstate 5 in southeast Salem Tuesday afternoon and swerved into a semi-truck, causing it to crash into a roadblock and roll over.
The collision shut down down the freeway’s northbound lanes for about four hours and delayed traffic headed south.
The driver of a 2014 Honda Civic was driving north in the fast lane when witnesses reported the car hydroplaned on the wet road, according to Cpt. Kyle Kennedy, spokesman for the Oregon State Police.
The driver lost control and veered into a blue 1997 Peterbilt semi-truck, which was towing two trailers loaded with hay bales.
The truck driver then lost control and collided with cement barriers along the freeway median, Kennedy said in an email Wednesday.
The semi-truck and trailers rolled over, blocking all northbound lanes of I-5 just south of Kuebler Boulevard.
Both drivers were taken to a local hospital with injuries.
The second collision forced the barriers out into the southbound fast lane, which created a hazard for drivers heading south, according to Kennedy.
“No signs of impairment were detected on the involved drivers,” he wrote. It was raining at the time of the collision.
UPDATE: 4:55 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5
Northbound lanes of Interstate 5 have reopened in Salem after a collision involving a semi truck at the Kuebler Boulevard interchange, the state Department of Transportation announced late Tuesday afternoon.
“It may take some time for traffic to catch up during rush hour. Please expect delays,” the agency wrote.
Original story below:
Northbound Interstate 5 is fully closed at Kuebler Boulevard in Salem after a collision Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
One southbound lane is open on the freeway with delayed traffic.
The state Department of Transportation said 1:12 p.m. Tuesday that northbound lanes were blocked by an overturned semi-truck.
“Crews are working on a detour using the on and off-ramps at Keubler,” the agency wrote on X.
Drivers were asked to find alternative routes and expect delays.
“A hay truck pulling doubles overturned. Large hay bales are blocking lanes,” according to Cpt. Kyle Kennedy, Oregon State Police spokesman. “There may be a second vehicle involved.”
Kennedy said in an email that the cause of the collision and whether there were injuries were unknown as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
This is a developing story.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
