GOLD BAR — A head-on crash into a semi truck shut down traffic in both directions on U.S. 2 for hours Saturday east of Gold Bar.
Nobody was seriously injured around noon, when a car struck the right barrier on a bridge near 178th Street NE, then swerved into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with the semi, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rocky Oliphant said.
A third vehicle was also damaged.
One of the vehicles caught on fire on the bridge, just west of Zeke’s Drive In.
“Unfathomable that there are no serious injuries,” Oliphant tweeted, with a photo of the mangled wreckage. “Very fortunate these people can walk away from this collision.”
Everyone declined to be taken to the hospital.
The road reopened around 3:30 p.m.
The state patrol estimated about 50 gallons of diesel spilled from the semi truck. The state Department of Ecology was called to the scene, Oliphant said.
U.S. 2 traffic already tends to be stop-and-go on weekends in Gold Bar. It’s a gateway to outdoor recreation, and the local hikes are especially popular on a sunny Saturday.
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