One person died and two others were injured Wednesday in a six-vehicle accident in an Interstate 40 construction zone near Hazen that blocked traffic for more than five hours, officials said.
Police did not release the name of the person killed Wednesday afternoon pending notification of relatives, said Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler.
The accident occurred at 10:15 a.m. on Interstate 40 just west of the White River bridge, and involved five tractor-trailers and a minivan, Sadler said. Eastbound traffic was routed onto U.S. 70 at Hazen and westbound traffic was diverted to Des Arc on Arkansas 33 as workers tended to the injured and cleared the interstate.
The roadway was reopened to traffic about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Construction crews have worked on the interstate between Hazen and DeValls Bluff since October 2011, repairing two bridges and doing overlay work, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. About 10 miles of the two eastbound lanes of the interstate are closed. Traffic now flows in both directions on the two westbound lanes, he said.
Crews should complete the work in seven weeks, Straessle said.
The area also has been the scene of other accidents in the recent past. On March 21, Austin Jarrett, 25, of Cabot died after his car was struck in a “chain reaction crash” after a tractor-trailer stopped in the eastbound lane, authorities said. The truck driver later told police that he had heard debris strike his vehicle and decided to stop.
Also, traffic slowed to a crawl during a Dec. 25 snowstorm because of the construction barricades and barrels. On March 19, a tractor-trailer overturned and spilled grain onto the road near the bridge.
No highway worker has been injured on the stretch of interstate under construction, Straessle said.
The Highway and Transportation Department installs electronic message boards in advance of the work areas, posts information on Twitter at the department’s site - @ AHTD - and broadcasts prerecorded traffic information that’s played on AM radio 1680 near the work site.
“Every zone has been preplanned” Straessle said. “Everything has been choreographed to make sure it’s safe. But then you add the human element and accidents can happen.”
Straessle said police directed the eastbound and westbound traffic on alternate routes because U.S. 70 wasn’t capable of handling constant two-way tractor-trailer traffic.
“We’re lucky to have U.S. 70 parallel to the interstate,” Straessle said. “But it was lunch hour; we were having tractor-trailers constantly coming through.
“We worked with the state police, the county and local police to help with the traffic,” he said.
Rachel Rigney, a worker at the Sno-White Dairy Bar on North Main Street in Des Arc, said traffic was constant in the northern Prairie County town.
“We saw a lot more trucks,” she said. “But they didn’t stop here for lunch.
“We know every time there’s a wreck or the interstate is blocked because all the 18-wheelers come through,” she said.
Ruth Baker, a desk clerk at the Hazen Super 8 motel on Interstate 40, said she could see the line of vehicles Wednesday afternoon crawling past.
“We’re about 6 miles from where it happened, and traffic is still coming through slowly,” she said.
Straessle said construction should be completed at the work site near Hazen by the end of June. He said work should begin on a stretch of Interstate 40 from Forrest City to Widener after May 27.
Interstate work is also planned for west of the Prairie County line and on the White River bridge.
“It’s not to say the worst is over when this construction is done,” he said. “There will be additional traffic challenges ahead.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/09/2013