BELLINGHAM, Wash. — About 9:30am today, Saturday, November 6th, Washington State Patrol (WSP) troopers were dispatched to a report that a semi truck lost its flatbed trailer while heading southbound on I-5 near the Lakeway Drive exit. The empty trailer ended up halfway into the median while blocking the left lane.
WSP Trooper Rocky Oliphant told Whatcom News the trailer became entangled with the median cable barrier. Equipment failure was blamed for the separation. No other vehicles were involved.
While troopers were dealing with the wayward trailer, 2 other crashes occurred in the same area on both northbound and southbound lanes.
About 10:15am, troopers were dispatched to a report of a 3-car hit-and-run crash in the southbound lanes, Oliphant said. 2 of the vehicles remained at the scene but an involved VW Jetta fled. Law enforcement are looking for the VW Jetta.
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Click for more informationOliphant said the crash occurred as southbound traffic was stopping abruptly due to the lane closure. Some vehicles were following too closely and were unable to stop before colliding.
As troopers responded to the 3-car crash, they noticed a northbound Chrysler PT Cruiser had crashed into the median cable barrier.
No injuries were reported in any of these incidents.
Both northbound and southbound traffic was reduced to 1 lane while while the crashes were cleared.
Washington State Department of Transportation officials said both northbound and southbound lanes had reopened shortly after 11am.