Crash causes interstate delays for more than 7 hours in Rock County
A crash on Interstate 39/90 near Newville caused more than 7 hours of delays for traffic heading toward Madison Wednesday morning.
The crash was reported at 6:25 a.m., and the left lane of westbound I-39/90 was closed until just before 2 p.m, state traffic officials said in a news alert.
A semi-trailer was headed west when it ran off the road and hit a guardrail, Wisconsin State Patrol said. The driver reportedly fell asleep.
At some points during the lane closure, traffic was reportedly backed up 5 miles and it was taking drivers an hour to get through the backup.
Images from state traffic operations showed backups extending past I-90 and County Road M, north of Janesville, and about 3 miles from the initial crash scene.
With construction starting on the interstate during the busiest travel time of the year, officials said drivers may be in store for more delays this summer.
While Wednesday morning’s crash did not happen in a construction zone, Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials said they are working to prevent crashes during the Interstate 90 Expansion Project.
“We have our alternate route system that we are building before we go into construction on the main line, so any incidents in construction zones or out of the construction zones we try to send the traffic and alert them in time to try to get them alternate routes and give them the travel times and hopefully they can get around it,” project supervisor John Steiner said.
The drivers of the semi and of the car involved were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
