I-45 was closed for hours after driver of stalled car hit and killed, police say
LA MARQUE, Texas (KTRK) -- Traffic was backed up in the La Marque area after a deadly crash involving a pedestrian sparked a total closure on the I-45 Gulf Freeway for hours on Thursday morning.
Police said the driver of a vehicle that stalled on one side of the freeway attempted to cross the main lanes to the other side. That's when they were hit by multiple vehicles.
Officials noted that the area is undergoing construction, and there are no emergency shoulders in the area, so the driver had nowhere to pull over.
Because of the construction, drivers near the closure don't have anywhere to exit, resulting in a standstill.
All of the northbound and southbound lanes were closed near FM-519 until about 12:15 p.m., when the lanes were reopened. ABC13 cameras captured many people standing outside of their vehicles on the freeway. Some of them said they had been stuck for over three hours.
ABC13 reporter Chaz Miller spoke to some of the drivers standing on the freeway. Many of them are UTMB Health employees.
"I pulled up at 6:18 a.m., and it was backed up. It had already started. The people in the front have been there since 6:05 a.m.," Chanel Travino, who works for UTMB, said. "A few people made it to the island, so they are running the rooms that they can, but a lot of the doctors are stuck out here, too."
The backed-up vehicles started to slowly move again shortly before 10 a.m. They were being directed down the entrance ramp the wrong way.
Drivers were directed to take Highway 3 as an alternate route.
For news updates, follow Chaz Miller on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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