DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Interstate 83 southbound was closed for more than seven hours in Dauphin County on Monday at exit 47 due to multiple crashes, including one fatal incident and another involving a tractor-trailer hauling cooking oil.
According to a PennDOT spokesperson, there was a disabled vehicle in the left lane at mile marker 46.5 that was hit by the tractor-trailer and several other vehicles shortly before 7 a.m.
The spokesperson said that that crash caused boxes of cooking oil to fall out of the tractor-trailer and leak oil onto the roadway. An unknown number of vehicles then crashed into the back of the truck.
Two other crashes happened in the backlog of that crash, according to PennDOT.
The driver of a passenger vehicle, a 41-year-old man, died after striking the trailer of a tractor-trailer that was stopped in the left lane in the backlog, according to Pennsylvania State Police. That crash happened around mile marker 50, which occurred shortly after 9 a.m., PennDOT said. The driver of the truck was not injured.
The other crash that happened in the backlog earlier this morning occurred at mile marker 48.7, according to PennDOT. That crash involved two passenger vehicles. Injuries were reported but do not appear to be major, PennDOT said.
Cooking oil has leaked onto Interstate 83 from the broken boxes from the original crash. Fire crews on the scene are putting down material to help soak up the oil.
The roadway was fully opened around 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday.
