9 People Hurt In Two Bad N.J. Highway Crashes This Weekend

At least nine people were hurt in two serious New Jersey highway crashes, three of whom may be in critical condition, police said.

At least five people were hurt when as many eight cars crashed on New Jersey Turnpike southbound around 5 a.m. Sunday, police said.

The roadway in Bordentown was shut down for more than an hour Sunday morning, closing lanes between exit 7 and 7A for a time.

Four people, meanwhile, were seriously hurt on Route 55 southbound Saturday afternoon, police said.

Three of the victims were were airlifted to local hospital after the 2:55 p.m. crash near milemarker 39.4.

An Isuzu Rodeo occupied by four people was headed southbound when it ran off the roadway and overturned, and two people in the back seat were ejected, police told nj.com.

Three helicopters landed in the roadway to ferry patients to a hospital, and a fourth injured person was believed to have been taken to an area hospital by ground.

At least five people - including a former Miss New Jersey - were killed on Route 55 in 2016.

Route 55 is notoriously dangerous road, and these fatal accidents also have happened this year:

• Cara McCollum, a 24-year-old news anchor for SNJ Today and a former Miss N.J., died earlier this year after her car ran off northbound Route 55 and hit several trees in Pittsgrove, said New Jersey State Police.
• A woman died in January in Gloucester County in a crash on Route 55 northbound at mile marker 47, police said.
• A prisoner transport van crashed into a truck on Route 55 in January, killing one inmate and injuring three other people, New Jersey State Police said.
• A 31-year-old man was killed in April when his pickup truck flipped on Route 55, police said.
• A fatal motor vehicle crash closed southbound lanes on Route 55 in the Deptford area in May.

Further details were not immediately available.

Photo: @AndrewDAdamson