Seattle I-5 Closure: Freeway Reopens To Traffic

SEATTLE, WA - (Updated 6:29 p.m.) Transportation officials reopened I-5 through downtown Seattle just before 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Both directions of I-5 were closed for about 7 hours on Monday due to a crash involving a tanker hauling butane. There were hundreds of drivers stuck along I-5, and traffic clogged local streets in the downtown area and beyond.

Close to 5 p.m. Monday, Washington State Patrol spokesman Nick King said there isn't yet a "definitive ETA for roadway opening." At that hour, crews were still unloading butane from the crashed tanker. There was apparently 9,500 gallons of butane inside the tanker.

The highway was so clogged that a taco truck stuck in the jam opened up during the lunch hour for business. There were reports of drivers and passengers abandoning vehicles and walking away.

Hampering traffic, around 3:30 p.m. a storm was bringing snow, sleet, and even thunder and lightning into the Seattle area.

At 2 p.m., a tanker had arrived on the scene to unload butane from the crashed truck. Washington State Patrol spokesman Rick Johnson said the offloading would be a "meticulous and slow process."

Around 1:30 p.m. Monday, the Washington State Department of Transportation announced that northbound express lanes of I-5 would open to help clear traffic in downtown Seattle. Non-high occupancy vehicles can enter those lanes at Mercer Street; HOV vehicles can enter at 5th Avenue and Columbia in downtown Seattle.

The crash happened before 10:30 a.m. Monday in the collector-distributor lanes from I-90 to southbound I-5. The crash caused the tanker to spring a small leak, according to Seattle fire officials.

Just after noon on Monday, traffic backups were stretching 3 miles north and south of downtown Seattle. Airport Way, a major road alongside I-5, was shut down at Holgate Street.

In addition to the I-5 closures, I-90 was closed at Rainier Avenue. Northbound I-5 was closed at the West Seattle Bridge; southbound I-5 was closed near Seneca Street. Westbound lanes of I-90 were being diverted to Rainier Avenue.

(For more updates on this story and other news around Seattle, click here to subscribe to Patch's daily newsletter and free, real-time news alerts.)

Three people were injured in the crash and taken to Harborview Medical Center, all with non-life threatening injuries, the fire department said. In addition to the tanker truck, two other passenger vehicles were involved in the crash.

A homeless encampment underneath the highway near where the accident happened was closed. The camp's residents were allowed to use King County Metro buses for shelter.

Image via Washington State Patrol