Virginia State Police and area first responders were quite busy Thursday, answering 12 separate traffic crashes in the area of the Interstate 64-Interstate 81 interchange in Augusta County spread out over a five-plus-hour period.
The first crash was reported at 12:20 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-81 at the 228 mile marker just north of Verona. As traffic slowed to react to that first I-81 crash, two additional crashes occurred in the northbound lanes of I-81 at the 223 mile marker and then at the I-81/I-64 interchange.
Traffic continued to back up due to those crashes.
As troopers worked to clear the initial crashes and keep traffic moving, a two-vehicle crash occurred at approximately 2:25 p.m. in the westbound lanes of I-64 at the 90 mile marker near Fishersville. In that crash, a box truck suddenly stopped for traffic, and a Brinks armored vehicle swerved to the right shoulder to avoid the box truck and was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer.
The impact of the crash caused the armored vehicle to run off the road, strike an embankment and overturn. Meanwhile, the tractor-trailer struck the guardrail and then the box truck.
The driver of the tractor-trailer and the armored vehicle’s driver and passenger were transported to Augusta Health nearby for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, an adult male from Canada, was cited for following too closely.
Then, at 5:45 p.m., VSP responded to a seven-vehicle crash in the westbound lanes of I-64 at the 91 mile marker.
Several injuries were reported, but none were life-threatening.
That crash remains under investigation.
Share
Chris Graham
