This story has been updated with new information.
ZANESVILLE – One lane has been reopened after a two-truck crash, a fire and — for a second consecutive day — miles of stopped traffic greeted Interstate 70 motorists in Muskingum County on April 8.
One eastbound semi-truck was believed to have hit another semi, which may have been pulled over near the New Concord exit (Exit 169), Jeff Jadwin, Muskingum County EMA director, told the Times Recorder.
At around 8:31 a.m., crews were maneuvering wrecker trucks to start what Jadwin said he believed would be a lengthy cleanup.
Jadwin provided an update at 10:08 saying that one eastbound lane near the Norwich exit had started reopening, after crews finished extinguishing the fire and removed debris from the right lane.
One truck was damaged in the fire, but both of them were destroyed in the crash, Jadwin noted.
One of the drivers was taken to the nearby Ohio Highway Patrol post, and one driver and a passenger were transported to a Cambridge hospital.
There were two stretches of stopped or slowed eastward traffic on I-70 around 8:15 a.m., one in the immediate two to three miles outside Exit 169, and another backlog approaching Norwich Road exit 164.
Eastbound traffic has been redirected approaching the Norwich exit. The detour takes drivers off the ramp, through New Concord, onto Ohio 83, then back onto I-70.
Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be emailed at sdigity@gannett.com or found on X at @ShawnDigityZTR.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: One lane of I-70 reopened after two-truck crash near New Concord exit
Reporting by Shawn Digity, Zanesville Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
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