Fatal crossover accident closes northbound I-5 at Marysville
Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 12, 2007
MARYSVILLE — One person was killed and another seriously injured in what police believe was another crossover accident at milepost 200 on I-5 in Marysville.
Troopers are starting to make drivers on northbound I-5 turn around to get off the freeway at the nearest exit.
A southbound Jeep apparantly crossed the cable barrier median and collided with a northbound charter bus. The Jeep driver was reported dead, and the bus driver was seriously injured, according to Trooper Kirk Rudeen, Washington State Patrol spokesman.
| Click here to read The Herald’s investigative report on the cable barrier problem along I-5 |
This is the first fatal accident in more than a year along a 10-mile stretch of I-5 where sections of cable barrier had not been installed according to specifications. The state has since reinstalled the barrier, and the state is adding a second row of cable barrier in order to prevent crossover accidents. A cable barrier is designed to absorb crash impact, unlike solid median barriers.
The new cable barrier work cost about $2.4 million and included the length at milepost 200, where this aftenoon’s fatal accident happened.
The cable barrier in the I-5 median along where the accident occurred came under scrutiny after several accidents where vehicles crossed the median into oncoming traffic, which caused the deaths of seven people between 2000 and 2004.
The state recently agreed to pay the Holschen family of Bothell $2 million after a crossover accident killed 18-year-old Megan Holschen and injured several other members of the family.
