GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Two people were hurt and I-49 was shut down for both north and southbound traffic after three different crashes resulted in devastating damage.
The incident happened at 4:34 a.m. on May 3, Capt. Ryan Sharp with the Grandview Police Department said in a statement. Two people were found with critical injuries. They were taken to the hospital.
Sergeant Bill Lowe with the Missouri State Highway Patrol told FOX4 that there were actually three separate crashes that were a part of the overall incident.
First, a car struck a semi-truck and stopped in the middle of the road. Then, another car trying to avoid the vehicle hit the concrete median and overturned. One person was ejected. Finally, a third vehicle came along and struck the second car.
FOX4 footage shows the second car completely smashed. The two people in that vehicle were the ones taken to the hospital. Sgt. Lowe said they were in surgery, but they were stable last he heard.Crews directed traffic off at Main Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard onto the frontage roads.
Northbound traffic backed up to 155th Street, but it reopened by 7:30 a.m. Southbound is seeing slowdowns as far as East Red Bridge Road and has also reopened.FOX4 producer Kaitlyn Schwers phoned in from Frontage Road as she detoured around the incident. She said she could see multiple vehicles damaged, including damage to the concrete median.
“I’ve been stuck well over an hour,” she said at the time.