BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Washington State Patrol (WSP) were dispatched due to a report of a car versus deer collision in the southbound lanes of I-5 south of the Sunset Drive interchange about 2:15pm this afternoon, October 11th.
According to WSP Trooper Kelsey Harding, the car versus deer crash occurred in the left lane so troopers performed a rolling slowdown to enable moving to the right shoulder. It appeared initially that during the rolling slowdown there were possibly 2 collisions involving up to 5 cars. At least 1 was reported to involve injuries.
It was necessary to close all southbound lanes of I-5 and traffic was diverted off I-5 at the Sunset Drive off-ramp.
As of 3pm, traffic was backed up 1.5 miles beyond the Meridian Street interchange in the southbound lanes and a backup in the northbound lanes was forming. 1 southbound lane was reported to be open.
As of 3:25pm, all lanes were reported to have been reopened. The traffic backup extended over 2 miles to the Northwest Drive interchange.
As of 3:45pm, at least 1 additional crash was reported in the traffic backup.