Portions of Interstate 55 southwest of Bloomington-Normal were closed into Wednesday evening after a string of crashes, including at least one fatal collision.
The first crash was reported after 1 p.m. on I-55 on the Timber Creek Bridge near Funks Grove, authorities said. Emergency crews were called to the scene, including Normal Fire Department's Technical Rescue team, according to NFD's Facebook page. Bloomington Fire Department said a semitrailer truck overturned on the bridge.
According to Illinois State Police (ISP), seven people were hospitalized in the crash that involved three vehicles, including the semi. The semi driver, a 68-year-old man from Sallis, Miss. was the only one who suffered serious injuries, according to ISP. Police said the southbound semi failed to slow for traffic in a construction zone and rear-ended another vehicle, causing a chain reaction. Police said the truck tractor portion of the semi became suspended over the bridge. That crash backed up traffic on I-55.
At around 3:30 p.m. between the Atlanta and McLean exits, a separate semi collided with another truck on northbound I-55, killing the semi's driver (a 63-year-old from Mascoutah in southern Illinois), according to State Police. The semi driver apparently failed to slow down as traffic stalled due to the earlier wreck on southbound I-55, State Police said.
The other truck's driver (a 57-year-old from Wisconsin) was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, State Police said.
At around 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, several stretches of I-55 in both directions remained closed in the area, according to the Mt. Hopes-Funks Grove fire department.
