Trooper: Chain-reaction wreck claims life of 76-year-old Nash County man

A Nash County man was killed Thursday morning on westbound U.S. 64 immediately past the new North Old Carriage Road overpass and in a continuing construction work area at the U.S. 64 interchange for North Old Carriage, the N.C. Highway Patrol said.

Jimmy Taylor, 76, of Castalia was dead at the scene of what was a chain-reaction three-pickup truck wreck, Trooper Terrance Cutchin said in a phone interview Friday morning.

According to Cutchin, a driver of a Ford F-450 was pulling a flatbed trailer on westbound U.S. 64 and a driver of a Chevrolet Silverado was trailing, with the two motorists driving slowly and having activated flashing lights to alert other motorists that they were part of construction crews.

The two pickup truck drivers’ intentions were to pull over onto the shoulder to be able to get to a construction work entrance, Cutchin said.

The driver of the Silverado was maneuvering to get onto the shoulder and the driver of the F-450 looked in the rearview mirror and saw a person driving a truck on westbound U.S. 64 at high speed, Cutchin said.

That truck, also a Silverado, was registered to and being driven by Taylor, Cutchin said.

Taylor’s Silverado struck the other Silverado, causing the chain-reaction wreck, Cutchin said. In the process, Taylor’s Silverado overturned but Taylor was not ejected, Cutchin said.

The speed limit is 65 mph on that part of U.S. 64, and Taylor was estimated to have been driving 72 mph and had failed to reduce speed, Cutchin said.

No one is being charged at this time, Cutchin said.

The F-450 and the trailing Silverado were registered to Bull City Boring, which is in Butner, Cutchin said.

Westbound U.S. 64 traffic had to be diverted onto the exit ramp for North Old Carriage and motorists had to use a new roundabout at the end of the ramp to get onto the entrance ramp to get back onto westbound U.S. 64, Cutchin said.

Eastbound U.S. 64 remained open but traffic was restricted to one lane, Cutchin said.

Cutchin said he received the call at 8:37 a.m. Thursday and that he was at the wreck scene for about an hour and a half.

Crews have been working to complete a multi-million-dollar project to improve a since-reopened North Carriage Road from the intersection of Sunset and Eastern avenues to U.S. 64 and to Reges Store and Green Hills roads.

Part of the project included replacing the since-reopened North Old Carriage overpass over U.S. 64 with a new one.