Crash snarls I-205 traffic
By JEFF MIZE / Sept. 18, 1997
A chain-reaction accident on Interstate 205 Wednesday afternoon killed a California man and caused the first big traffic jam during Interstate 5 Bridge repairs.
The accident north of Mill Plain Boulevard involved 13 vehicles and blocked two of the freeway's three northbound lanes for about two hours.
Traffic backed up from the accident all the way across the I-205 Bridge into Oregon. Southbound traffic also became clogged as motorists slowed to gawk at the wreckage.
The entire area became one massive traffic jam as motorists crept along nearby streets such as Mill Plain, Chkalov Drive and Northeast 112th Avenue.
Joe Luz Granados Jr., 61, of Colfax, Calif., was killed in the accident, which occurred about 3:45 p.m. when several vehicles were involved in a series of rear-end collisions.
"It had just stopped raining, and there was really heavy spray from cars on the road," said Capt. Rick Phillips of the Washington State Patrol.
The fatality occurred when a truck pulling two loaded flatbed trailers came to a halt to avoid the wreckage ahead. Granados' blue pickup, pulling a travel trailer, slammed into the back of the flatbed trailer.
Phillips said Granados swerved but still hit the trailer. The impact crumpled the pickup's left side and killed the driver instantly, he said.
Granados' wife, 59-year-old Claudette J. Granados, was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center where she was treated and released. Five other people involved in the pileup also were treated at the hospital for minor injuries and released.
With the evening rush hour under way, State Patrol officers worked to remove the wreckage as quickly as possible.
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| Aftermath: A Washington State trooper makes his way around a pickup where a California man died Wednesday in a 13-car pileup on I-205 near Mill Plain Boulevard. Northbound traffic backed up into Oregon. Troopers said heavy spray from rain might have contributed to the accident. |
Good day, otherwise
Besides some less-serious accidents and a few stalled vehicles, rush-hour traffic continued to move smoothly throughout the Portland-Vancouver area despite the closure of one of the twin I-5 spans since Tuesday morning.
"We hope people will continue behaving as responsibly as they have been," said Karen Ciocia of Vancouver's transportation division. "It's just been great."
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, officials reported that southbound traffic on I-5 was backed up as far as the 78th Street exit.
Nancy Gordon, a spokeswoman at the coordination center, said the backup fluctuated between the 39th and 78th street exits.
Gordon said the congestion appeared to start when workers reversed the middle lane on the I-5 Bridge at noon, restricting traffic flow to one lane into Portland.
Until the I-205 fatality, that southbound I-5 backup Wednesday afternoon had been the most dramatic effect of Tuesday morning's closure.
Thousands of regular commuters this week have switched to car pools and mass transit or stayed home from their Portland job sites, greatly easing the load on the bridges.
Bridge traffic: Officials reported an 18 percent increase in I-5 Bridge traffic during Wednesday's morning rush hour compared to Tuesday morning.
Some motorists might have decided it wasn't necessary to use the I-205 Bridge, which recorded a 17 percent decrease in traffic Wednesday morning compared to Tuesday morning. The higher I-5 traffic also might be due to truckers staying on the freeway instead of using alternate routes.
"Eyeballing it, we all felt that we saw an increase" in truck traffic, Ciocia said. "We hope that we're maxing out on the increase and people will continue to use alternative modes."
Amtrak: Wednesday morning, 486 people rode the three free trains into Portland, down from 553 Tuesday.
Wednesday afternoon, 563 people rode trains heading back to Vancouver, a slight decrease from the 568 riders Tuesday evening.
A more noticeable change occurred in Portland commuters taking Amtrak trains back home from Vancouver Wednesday afternoon; 185 people boarded two trains to Portland, compared with 135 Tuesday.
C-Tran: Bus ridership was holding steady after Tuesday's 40 percent increase, but there was a slight decline in people using Park & Ride lots.
Officials suspect more C-Tran riders are being dropped off at bus stops, what they refer to as "kiss and rides."
Noisy helicopters: Some Vancouver residents are fed up with news helicopters checking on the early-morning commute. City officials had complaints from residents in downtown Vancouver and the Rosemere neighborhood.
Other bridges: At the Bridge of the Gods in the Columbia Gorge, 42 miles east of I-5, toll-taker Dorothy Bettis said Wednesday night she knows of only one person who had taken the long detour. He lived in Hazel Dell and worked in Gresham, Ore.
Police in Rainier, Ore., said they haven't noticed a substantial increase in traffic over the bridge at Longview and onto U.S. Highway 30 in Oregon. However a caller to one Portland radio station said Wednesday he noticed more traffic than usual on Highway 30 near Scapoose.
