HOWELL, Mich. — Three people are dead in a crash involving up to 40 cars that closed stretches of eastbound and westbound I-96 near Fowlerville on Thursday morning, authorities said.
Between 30 and 40 cars were involved in the 9:30 a.m. incident, according to Michigan State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Munoz. The fatalities occurred on the westbound lanes of I-96, he said.
The westbound lanes of I-96 near the Fowlerville Road exit will remain closed for an extended period of time, he said. The eastbound I-96 lanes near M-52 will be closed for a short time, he said.
The Livingston County Sheriff's Office said some of vehicles may have been run off the highway and were not actually involved in the crash.
The pileup began on westbound I-96 between the Williamston and Okemos exits after snow began to blanket the area, causing whiteout conditions, the Sheriff's Office said. The falling snow then froze, leading to the treacherous conditions.
One semitractor-trailer was jackknifed across most of the lanes of I-96. About a dozen cars and trucks were in the ditches of the median and shoulder of the road. Several dozen more vehicles were smashed but had been able to pull off on the side of the road.
A Detroit Free Press reporter traveling to Lansing heard "the most terrifying sounds I’ve ever heard" as a semitractor-trailer's tires skidded on the ice behind her. She had nowhere to go because traffic was at a stand-still.
"Fortunately, he was able to stop before plowing into me," reporter Kathleen Gray said, noting that "it probably took about an hour to get through the accident scene. Traffic was able to pull around the jackknifed semi-truck on the shoulder of the freeway."
Thursday’s crash was a troubling reminder of other multivehicle crashes on Michigan’s interstates in recent years.
Almost 200 vehicles were involved in a crash on I-94 west of the Calhoun-Kalamazoo county line in January 2015. The crash, which had part of the interstate closed for days, left 58-year-old truck driver Jean Larocque of Quebec dead and sent almost two dozen people to hospitals. Frigid temperatures and blowing snow were blamed, as was excessive speed, and dozens of drivers were ticketed for speeding.
An audit conducted after the crash called for relocating a cable barrier, more electronic signs, new lighting and freeway courtesy patrols, according to an Associated Press report.
That crash was just over two years after a 41-vehicle crash in whiteout conditions on I-75 near the Springwells exit in Detroit left three dead.
Contributing: Detroit Free Press
