A tractor-trailer making an illegal lane change sparked a Thursday morning crash that caused many headaches for northbound commuters on Interstate 95, police said.
Three rigs traveling near each other south of Quantico crashed about 5 a.m., when traffic stopped abruptly near a work zone, state police Sgt. F.L.Tyler said.
Traffic was forced to merge left for the zone, where crews were laying new pavement.
The driver of a rig in the center lane tried to slow down and then merged into the left lane to avoid the cars in front of him, said Tyler.
When he merged, the truck hit a second rig in the left lane, forcing that rig to hit another large tanker truck in front of him.
No one was injured in the crash, but the damage to the morning commute had been done.
“I’ve been in it for about 45 minutes now, I’m just trying to get to Baltimore,” said Phil Marsh, who left his Siler City, N.C., home this morning, bound for Maryland.
Thousands of commuters sat in their cars as they tried to make their way north through Stafford County.
Much of the delay began before Va. 610 and then extended as far south as the Rappahannock River.
Motorists reported I-95 delays to extend as long as 15 miles just after 8 a.m.
U.S. 1 which normally makes for a good bailout route to get around I-95 accidents was clogged with cars and even more accidents by 7 a.m.
Two lanes of the interstate remained closed for more than an hour as state police investigated the accident and cleared the scene.
Wreckers were called in to remove the rigs just after 6:45 a.m.
David Tomlin, 59, of Mullusk, Va., was charged with making the unsafe lane change that led to the accident.
The drivers of the other two tractor-trailers were also from Virginia. They have not been charged.
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