Beltway accidents tie up morning commute

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006

Two accidents on the Beltway last night caused significant delays and headaches for commuters this morning.

The first accident occurred on the outer loop between Connecticut Avenue and Rockville Pike in Montgomery County at 10:30 p.m. when a tractor-trailer carrying frozen vegetables rolled on its side.

As the truck was being righted, the trailer split open, emptying the vegetables onto the highway, Maryland State Police said. The clean-up took hours, and the morning commute was delayed. Traffic was backed up past Interstate 95, which is 10 miles from the accident scene.

State police would not release any more information as officials are still investigating the accident, but said the driver is facing charges of an undisclosed nature. The driver escaped with minor injuries.

The other accident occurred late last night on the outer loop south of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. A Jeep Grand Cherokee slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer that was stopped with traffic at a construction zone. State police say the car never slowed down.

The driver of the Jeep was pinned in the vehicle for 30 minutes before being extracted by rescuers, said Mark Brady, spokesman for the county Fire and EMS Department. The driver at one point stopped breathing, but was revived by paramedics and sent to a local hospital in extremely critical condition, Brady said.