CRANBERRY TWP — A highway worker Monday was taken to a nearby hospital with a lower back injury after a three-vehicle crash in a work zone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The accident happened around noon in the eastbound lanes of the turnpike near the 26 mile marker.

The driver of a Kia Soul, a woman from Akron, Ohio, said she slammed her brakes and tried to get into the right line as she came up on the highway crew that was working in the left lane. She stopped short of a Turnpike dump truck, but was allegedly rear-ended by a Chevrolet SUV, which pushed the Kia into the dump truck causing the Kia to roll onto its side. The woman, her two dogs and the driver of the Chevrolet were not injured.

The injured construction worker was inside the dump truck.

State police are investigating the cause of the accident. Turnpike crews had eastbound traffic restricted to replace nighttime reflectors, police said.

Traffic was restricted for more than an hour while two of the vehicles were towed from the scene.