Send Mother's Day Sees Two Deaths on I-65; Major Traffic Delays

Posted: 9:52 AM May 13, 2012
Reporter: Michael Gossum

Mother's Day Sees Two Deaths on I-65; Major Traffic Delays

It was a Mother's Day nightmare.

Two people, including a 5 year-old-child were killed in two separate car accidents on the same interstate Sunday.

It caused traffic to be held up for hours.

"It's bad that it's Mother's Day, but it's bad that it happens any day of the year. It's part of what happens when you've got a lot of traffic on the highway, especially in rainy conditions," said Kentucky State Police Trooper Jonathan Biven.

Four vehicles were involved in a wreck at mile marker 55 near Cave City around 10 am this morning.

KSP says it happened when a semi-truck traveling southbound went across the median and hit two other cars and another semi-truck.

That driver was able to walk away from the crash, 62 year-old Judith Boden did not survive, six others involved were injured but are expected to live.

The wreck backed up I-65 for hours, the biggest reason is what was inside the two semi's.

"The one tractor trailer was carrying bottles of water, the tractor trailer that crossed the median carried food waste products, it was actually strawberry puree that was packed on ice," said Biven.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the only wreck today.

A 5 year-old-boy was also killed on I-65 at the 72 mile marker in Hart County early this morning around 4 am when a van tried to pass another car.

With both of these accidents today, the safety of I-65 is once again in question. Lawmakers are trying to make this road safer by widening it.

Legislators say the area between the Cumberland Parkway and I-65 has 11 deaths a year.

"There's also about 150 injuries on that stretch of road each year, and around 350 accidents or so each year on that stretch of road. So it's very important because of the safety aspect and the economic development side of it as well," Rep. Michael Meredith (R) 19th District told WBKO in April.

And after terrible events like today, the project to make I-65 wider on that stretch can't get here soon enough.

I-65 opened back up at about 7 pm, the road was closed for clean-up for about 10 hours.

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