It was a crash that cost two people their lives and caused a traffic nightmare.
By 11:15 p.m. Tuesday evening the southbound stretch of I-75 near mile marker 71 in Rockcastle County was reopened. It was shut down for more than nine hours after a wreck that involved six tractor trailers and one car.
The sea of tractor trailers, with miles and miles of cars, was only a small sign of the horror that was ahead on Tuesday.
“Just glanced over and it looked like a car that had been through a compacter. I mean, it was just like a sardine can,” said George Keen, as he drove in the northbound lanes past the wreck.
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“Fire, it was smoke and fire. It was just, it was horrible,” said Janet Montgomery.
Montgomery was inside one of the six tractor trailers in the crash. Kentucky State Police Vehicle Enforcement said the cause of the crash has not been determined, but it appears it happened when traffic slowed in a construction zone.
“Traffic was stopped, and it was just a chain reaction. Truck, after truck, after truck,” said Montgomery.
The last to hit was a FedEx semi, which burst into flames and killed the driver. State police identify the man as 41-year-old Toby Caudill of Glenford, Ohio.
In the middle of the trucks was a car. The Rockcastle County Deputy Coroner said the driver, 34-year old Jonathan D. Roark, died on scene. State Police said Roark is a military man from the Barbourville area.
Kentucky State Police said a third driver was hurt in the wreck, however he was released from the hospital with minor injuries.
“You don’t see stuff like that everyday, it’s not something that you want to see,” said Montgomery.
The cleanup was extensive because of the charred mess, and large commercial vehicles involved. It took hours to clear the debris and for investigators to reconstruct the crash.
For drivers, that meant hours and hours of waiting for the interstate to reopen. Drivers were diverted to U.S. 25, however that too got congested with a large amount of traffic.
“It was terrible, it was a lot of traffic backed up, thousands of cars probably,” said Steve Witt. He and his family sat on the interstate for around two hours before pulling off at the Berea Artisan Center.
Dozens of drivers took refuge at the Berea Artisan Center, finding hotels, alternate routes or a place to wait as the death and damage unraveled.
“It’s still a terrible shame that people lose their lives that way,” said Michael Gluhanich, who drove past the terrible scene. “Just say a prayer for them.”
