INDIANAPOLIS—
Traffic re-opened ahead of schedule after a crash on I-465 Eastbound Tuesday.One by one, cars started to fill all three lanes of the interstate. The lanes had been closed for 6 hours while construction crews worked to fix the pavement. The same construction crews had just recently finished laying new pavement to facilitate the new lane changes in this area.
"These poor people. Not only is the road under construction, but the cement burns up? Pitiful," said neighbor Linda Dintaman.
From Meridian Street to Keystone Avenue, traffic had been shut down entirely. The result of a fiery crash that sent one man to the hospital.
"It was just black, black, black going up and lots of fire trucks," said Dintaman.
"When I saw the smoke plumes, I thought there could be several cars involved and the fire could burn for hours," said witness Steve Walter.
State Police say it all started when 76-year-old Lewis King Jr. and his blue car exited for Keystone. Officials say King changed his mind and tried to re-enter I-465 traffic. Instead, King hit a concrete divider and spun out of control. An SUV driven by a Kentucky man t-boned King's car. Soon after, a semi hit both vehicles, rupturing it's gas tank, and starting an explosion. Miraculously no one was seriously hurt.
"This has nothing to do with the traffic pattern. This is inattentive, unsafe driving," said State Police First Sergeant Dave Bursten."
For drivers, it was a nightmare. A virtual standstill that had many out of their cars to take pictures, and perhaps, rethink their route home.
"I thought I'll just take the city streets, but then I changed my mind and got on the highway and here I am. I should have gone on the city streets," said Walter.
Construction resumes again at the Keystone exit Wednesday.
View I-465 Semi Crash in a larger map
