Serious Injury On I-294 As SUV Collides With Tractor-Trailer

NORTHBROOK, IL — A serious crash briefly closed Interstate 294 in both directions Thursday afternoon for a medical evacuation. An SUV crashed into the back of a tractor-trailor shortly after 4 p.m. in the southbound lanes near the Willow Road exit ramp, according to state police.

Both lanes were closed as a Flight for Life helicopter arrived to transport the driver of the gray Toyota SUV. All lanes were reopened prior to 4:45 p.m., but the ramp from southbound I-294 at Willow Road would remain closed for the crash investigation.

State police said the semi was parked on the right side of the roadway in a striped area with its emergency hazard lights activated at the time of the crash when the driver of the SUV, a 30-year-old Orland Park woman, struck the back of the truck.

She suffering life threatening injuries and was rushed by air to Lutheran General Hospital. The driver of the tractor-trailer was uninjured, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Bad crash, SB 294 by Willow in #Northbrook. #northshoreupdates #crash #flightforlife pic.twitter.com/BQJoxHrtRC
— North Shore Updates (@UpdatesNorth) January 17, 2019

Last Saturday, Illinois State Police Trooper Christopher Lambert died after being struck by a vehicle in the northbound lanes of I-294 at the same milepost of the tollway.