MADISON COUNTY, Ill. – A major crash and fire led to a big traffic back up on the Chain of Rocks Bridge on Tuesday evening.
The crash occurred a little after 5:30 p.m. on westbound Interstate 270, just around the bend between the main Chain of Rocks Bridge and the Canal Bridge near the Route 3 exit, not far from Granite City.
Authorities say nobody was killed, but the incident caused big-time traffic issues for several hours, and there is still an impact going into Wednesday morning.
Take the family to see The Illusionists – Magic of the Holidays coming to the Fox Theatre! The Ferguson Fire Department was one of many fire crews responding to this scene. Ferguson fire officials say they got the call just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.
When they arrived at the scene, they found a big rig with the trailer and the cab fully engulfed in flames. Because of the location near the bridge, the call went to a second alarm with more crews responding.
Crews from around a dozen different agencies rushed to help with the scene. North County Fire and Rescue quickly set up aerial operations while other crews fought the fire on the ground.
The incident led to a massive traffic backup on westbound I-270 coming into Missouri on the Chain of Rocks Bridge.
An IDOT official says there were three tractor trailers involved in the crash, along with multiple passenger vehicles.
According to Illinois State Police (ISP), a truck tractor semi-trailer caught fire, and a second tractor trailer stopped behind that truck, catching fire as well. ISP says that two passenger vehicles stopped when the incident occurred, but a third tractor trailer didn’t, causing a chain reaction rear-end crash.
ISP says that three people were transported to the hospital suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.
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An IDOT official says that westbound I-270 in the area was completely closed for a long period of time, and I-270 westbound didn’t open back up until 1:20 a.m., eight hours after the crash.
One westbound lane in the area is still closed Wednesday morning because of damage done to the roadway from the fire.
It will be seen how significant that lane closure is as traffic picks up throughout Wednesday morning.
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