Accident Involving 2 Tractor Trailers Snarls Morning Commute On Southbound I-95

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A tractor trailer crash causes a massive traffic jam during the morning commute.  Here's hoping your drive home is easier.

Alex DeMetrick reports--it's hard to imagine it being any worse.

A state highways camera showed the scene minutes after the accident happened in the southbound lanes of I-95 near Arbutus shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday.

Daylight revealed the extent--two tractor trailer rigs, one of them flipped over on its side across several lanes and what's left of a red car that may be at the center of the wreck.

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that a passenger vehicle for some unknown reason was either slowing or stopping in the travel portion," said Marc Black, Maryland State Police. "It was struck in the rear by a tractor trailer and again struck by another commercial vehicle. The second commercial vehicle overturned and then caused a fuel leak."

The accident brought southbound traffic to a crawl just to reach a detour, with vehicles diverted onto the off-ramp at Caton Avenue. Because it hit during rush hour, just getting to the detour took a long time.

"Too much traffic. We've been here like an hour and a half," said one driver.

"Very bad. I've been here two hours," said another driver.

And as 95 jammed up, connecting routes and streets quickly did the same.

"South Caton and Washington is totally destroyed. There's so many cars that aren't supposed to be there that are just loading up everything," said Curtis Bullock.

As the hours dragged on, so did the morning commute.

"It's a nightmare. I'm going to the hospital to take my mom and I can't make it for an appointment," said Elizabeth Ikiki.

"All the lanes are shoved down to one lane getting off Caton Avenue. It's just crazy," said Troy Meyers.

It was the scale of the cleanup coupled with the immense volume of traffic that slowed recovery of the commute.

More than four hours after the crash, lanes were set up around the last of the wreck. An hour later, the trailer that had blocked three lanes was finally cleared to the side and 95 began to unwind.

The driver of the car was injured and transported to Shock Trauma. The two tractor trailer drivers were not injured.

As of yet, police have not cited anyone in the accident.