‘Something needs to be done’: Lebanon woman speaks about dangerous part of I-40 after serious crash

LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRN) —On Thursday night, a Lebanon woman is raising concerns over what she is calling a dangerous stretch of I-40.

Two weeks ago, Melissa Lacks was sitting in stand-still traffic when a truck hit her and several other cars.

“I worked my 10-hour day, got off at 5 o’clock and got onto 40 East,” Lacks said.

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According to a preliminary report, the truck smashed into the back of Lacks’ car which crashed into four other cars.

“My first memory, I was on a stretcher, and I had IVs hooked up to me,” Lacks said.

Lacks was sent to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Among her multiple injuries, the worst is her fractured pelvis. “That fracture was the most excruciating and it’s the reason I am on this walker.”

About a week after the crash, also on I-40E in Wilson County, a 66-year-old man was killed in a crash that closed down part of the interstate for several hours .

“I don’t know what can be done there but something needs to be done. You got a lane that is ending so people merging from the left and the traffic coming over from the right so it’s dangerous,” Lacks said.

Lacks said she runs into traffic in this exact spot almost every day. “Lebanon has grown so much…every day it’s just a standstill.”

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She’s counting her blessings and calling it a miracle to be alive. “You just never know. Tomorrow is not promised to us and we just take every day as a blessing,” Lacks said.

Lacks will be out of work for some time so a GoFundMe was set up to help her pay back her hospital bills. You can find the link here .

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