Authorities identify driver who died in crash on I-5

Authorities have identified the person who died in a crash on Interstate 5 north of Seattle near Burlington and shut down northbound lanes of traffic for nearly five hours.

The News Tribune reports that 46-year-old Bradley John Donovan was traveling north when his semitrailer rear-ended a box truck. According to Washington State Police, the box truck spun and a hit a sedan and an SUV.

Donovan’s semitrailer then hit a barrier separating northbound and southbound lanes.

Donovan was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials do not know what caused Donovan to rear-end the other vehicle.

Original story

A two-car collision snarled traffic on Northbound I-5 in Burlington amid the Friday evening commute.

The collision was initially reported by multiple sources as a 14-car collision on I-5, but that was a miscalculation according to Sgt. Mark Francis with the Washington State Patrol.

“Originally, it was put out to us that 14 cars were involved,” Francis said. “I think there’s just debris scattered all over the roadway and as people were pulling over to help, that’s where the confusion came as far as multiple vehicles.”

The incident occurred at Bow Hill Road, around Mile Post 236. A southbound car reportedly crossed the median and crashed into a northbound truck.

“The crash happened at about 5:20 p.m.,” Francis said. “The cause was a passenger vehicle heading southbound on I-5, for an unknown reason, crossed the median — the median in that location is just a grass region. It crossed that median and went head-on into a box truck that was going northbound. They crashed in the left lane and that pushed the box truck over to the right shoulder and it kept the causing vehicle in the median. The driver of the causing vehicle is deceased.”

Traffic quickly backed up by at least 4 miles following the collision. Francis said that crews were opening up lanes one at a time as the cleared the scene.

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