Crashes, stalled trains make bad day for commuters

One person was taken to the hospital Thursday afternoon after a trailer, being pulled by a pickup, flipped over and spread debris on Interstate 95 near Dumfries.

The crash happened just before 1 p.m., at mile post 151, when the truck pulling the trailer hit a jersey wall, forcing the trailer to flip. The crash closed all three southbound lanes of the highway for a brief time, said a spokeswoman with the Virginia State Police.

Traffic was delayed for more than eight miles from the scene of the crash.

The crash victim was not identified and the spokeswoman did not know the extent of their injuries.

By 2:15 p.m., most of the debris was moved to the right side of the road and the two left lanes of the highway were reopened.

The crash was one of many headaches commuters on both the rails on the roads had to contend with Thursday.

A Woodbridge woman was charged earlier that morning after police say she struck a car from behind while traveling in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes near Lorton.

That crash happened at 7:30 a.m., when a Fayetteville, N.C. woman slowed to about 20 mph, because of heavy traffic.

Then, police said, a car approaching from behind, driven by 36-year-old Martiza Herrera, hit the woman, forcing Herrera’s car to hit a concrete barrier and flip around, said Virginia State Police Trooper James Whit Jr.

Herrera’s car was travelling at 65 mph when it stuck the victim’s, said Whit. No one was seriously injured in the crash, and the victim was able to drive away.

But the HOV lanes were closed for more than 30 minutes as crews worked to clean up the mess.

They reopened to traffic about 8:30 a.m.

There were also major delays on the rails this morning, as two stalled trains on the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines caused major delays throughout the system.

The delays began just after 7 a.m., when Fredericksburg line train 306 experienced mechanical issues and was delayed on for 36 minutes. On the Manassas line, train 308 was forced to stop at the Manassas Park station due to mechanical problems.

The delays forced the agency to work with Metro to allow VRE riders to board subway trains at the Vienna, Franconia-Springfield and King Street stations.

The delays come at a time when VRE is experiencing larger ridership numbers and has seen a 21-percent increase in on-time performance, over the past year.

VRE did not return a request for comment.