I-75 crash kills one driver, causes major Kentucky traffic backup for hours
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal crash that resulted in an overnight shutdown of a Kentucky interstate Tuesday morning.
The wreck happened shortly after 2 a.m. at mile-marker 121 of the southbound lanes of I-75, just before the first Fayette County I-75 exit, Iron Works Pike. The sheriff’s office said a tractor-trailer in the northbound lanes lost two tires, which then struck the front windshield of another tractor-trailer and an SUV traveling in the southbound lanes.
The driver of the tractor-trailer that was hit by one of the loose tires was declared dead on scene, according to the sheriff’s office. Scott County coroner Mark Sutton identified the driver as 55-year-old Lee Allen Hafer, from Ohio.
The other tire hit an SUV and caused the vehicle to go off the right side of the road into a field, the sheriff’s office said. The occupants of the SUV suffered minor injuries and were transported to Georgetown Community Hospital.
The incident caused multiple other wrecks that left the southbound lanes of I-75 completely blocked off at one point, according to the sheriff’s office. One of the other wrecks resulted in injuries to sheriff’s office and EMA officials. Their injuries were described as non-life threatening.
Another one of the other crashes involved a hazardous material spill, according to the sheriff’s office.
Interstate 75 traffic slowdown from crash
The crash caused a major traffic backup on I-75, putting the road at a standstill for hours. As of 7:42 a.m. only one lane of I-75 southbound was open and moving while the others remain blocked, according to the Lexington Traffic Management Center. The sheriff’s office didn’t say when the road will fully reopen but said they are strategically opening the ramps and lanes.
“We apologize for any inconvenience to motorists. Interstate closures are rare but occasionally, as in this case, very necessary,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
This story was originally published April 23, 2024 at 9:18 AM.
