HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – Paul Coughlin was traveling southbound on Interstate 95 on his way to Florida for Thanksgiving early Thursday morning — only to get caught in hours of standstill traffic in Virginia.
“What didn’t feel good when I first noticed the electronic sign giving you a heads up, it said ‘incident,’” said Coughlin. “Made me think something real bad is up.”
A reported five-car crash on I-95 South resulted in a vehicle engulfed in flames near the town of Ashland. According to Virginia State Police, one person was killed in the crash.
At 6:30 a.m., when the crash took place, all southbound and northbound lanes on I-95 were closed – causing backups that stretched for miles. The Virginia Department of Transportation reported a nine-mile backup northbound and a 3.5-mile backup southbound about three miles after the crash.
“I left Woodbridge this morning and only got 50-something miles in 4 hours,” said Coughlin.
Charles Walsh told 8News he was driving on I-95 when he heard about the backup and decided to hop on Route 1, but it wasn’t much better.
“I never seen traffic backup on Route 1 that far,” said Walsh. “Everybody was trying to get, you know, off for the week and it was bad.”
All lanes have since reopened as state troopers work to identify the victim and notify their next of kin.
This is a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.
