8-vehicle pileup shuts down I-80
Several people were injured Monday evening in a vehicle smash-up that involved five tractor-trailers — one carrying a car hauler — and three other vehicles on Interstate 80 near the Venango-Butler County line, authorities said.
The chain-reaction crash in Scrubgrass Township, which closed both eastbound lanes for about two-and-a-half hours, occurred about 20 minutes after a heavy downpour moved through the area.
Trevor Hile, chief of the Emlenton Volunteer Fire Department, said the pileup was triggered around 5:40 p.m. when a passenger vehicle apparently spun out just before the I-80 bridge, only several hundred feet outside Butler County. The vehicle ended on the right edge of the highway.
A big rig came by almost immediately, Hile said, and struck the guardrail, possibly in part when the driver tried to avoid the stopped vehicle.
Another tractor-trailer, this one hauling the car carrier, came upon the wrecked vehicles and the smash-up continued, with three more rigs and two other passenger vehicles piling on, according to emergency crews.
A complete police report was not immediately available Tuesday.
A woman in one of the passenger vehicles was taken to Clarion Hospital with moderate injuries, Hile said. Several other motorists suffered minor injuries, but did not need hospital treatment.
Both eastbound lanes were closed from exit 42 to exit 45. Traffic was detoured by way of Route 38 through Emlenton, before returning to the interstate via exit 45.
Hile said the most time-consuming issue during the closure was untangling the tractor-trailer — which struck the guardrail — from the guardrail and guardrail posts.
That rig and two of the passenger vehicles involved in the crash had to be towed.
Clintonville and St. Petersburg VFDs also assisted at the scene along with PennDOT, Emlenton Area Ambulance and Shippenville Ambulance.
