The Tribune Staff Reports
Indiana State Police believe a stalled vehicle in the northbound lanes of Interstate 65 near the Bartholomew/Jackson county line led to two multi-vehicle crashes involving as many as six semis.
Only one person was injured, complaining of wrist pain, in the wrecks, which began at about 10:15 a.m. Friday, with both lanes blocked until about 1 p.m.
A 6- to 8-mile backup caused by the accident resulted in traffic flow being restricted for about another half hour after the vehicles were cleared from the accidents, said Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, public information officer for the Versailles Post
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Wheeles said the first crash at the 56-mile-marker, which is in a construction zone where the interstate is being widened to three lanes, involved three semis.
The second crash, which occurred around the same time involved four vehicles, three of them semis along with a car.
The vehicles collided after traffic slowed to get around the stalled vehicle further ahead, and drivers didn’t slow fast enough to avoid the vehicle in front of them or were following too closely, investigators said.
Traffic was detoured to State Road 11 and U.S. 31 around the accidents, state police said.