Updated: Driver going wrong way hits tractor-trailer on I-64 in Lexington, police say
Part of Interstate 64 in Lexington was shut down Tuesday morning after a collision involving a tractor-trailer near the Scott County line.
The accident occurred around 5:30 a.m. Police were initially called for a report of a driver going the wrong way on I-64, Lexington Police Lt. Ronald Keaton said. While they were en route to the call, the driver hit a tractor-trailer and another vehicle, Keaton said.
“That caused the tractor-trailer to go off the roadway,” Keaton said. The tractor-trailer ran through a fence at the thoroughbred retirement farm at Blackburn Correctional Complex, Keaton said. No horses were affected, Keaton said. Responders got the tractor-trailer out of the field shortly after 7 a.m., Keaton said.
The driver of the tractor-trailer didn’t suffer any injuries, and two others were taken to a hospital with only minor injuries, Keaton said. But the crash did cause a “significant fuel leak,” according to Jordan Saas, battalion chief for the Lexington Fire Department.
Fire department crews were still cleaning up the fuel leak as of 9 a.m. Tuesday. Pecco, Inc., environmental consultants in Central Kentucky, had been called in to assist, Saas said.
Traffic wasn’t moving on a several mile stretch on I-64, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. But police were able to reopen all but one lane by about 7:30 a.m., and all lanes were reopened on the Scott County side of the roadway, according to the Lexington Traffic Management Center.
The cleanup crews cleared the scene later Tuesday morning.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 7:57 AM.