Associated Press
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – A fatal two-truck collision early Tuesday blocked all southbound lanes of Interstate Five in Federal Way and snarled traffic at the start of the morning commuter rush.
An empty semitrailer rig from Market Transport of Portland, Ore., rear-ended a large dump truck loaded with asphalt at the South 320th Street interchange, Washington State Patrol Trooper Monica Hunter said.
The driver of the semi, a 60-year-old Rainier man, died in the crash. The dump truck driver, who was slowing to deliver asphalt for a road-widening project on the left side of the southbound lanes, escaped injury.
Hunter said the dump truck was going an estimated 20 miles an hour when the semi hit at a high rate of speed at 2:16 a.m.
By 6 a.m. the crash had caused a long backup of southbound traffic, which was detoured over the entrance and exit ramps.
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