A Wisconsin woman was killed yesterday morning when a tractor-trailer in which she was riding veered across two lanes of Interstate 95 near Russell Street and slammed into a median, closing the highway's northbound lanes for three hours.
The crash, which occurred shortly after 11 a.m., snarled traffic in the Baltimore area for hours, backing up drivers for seven miles on I-95 and five miles on Interstate 895, the Harbor Tunnel Thruway, well into the afternoon, police said.
Kay L. Wistl, 51, of Pewaukee, Wisc., who was a passenger in the truck her husband was driving, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Edward A. Wistl, 52, the driver of the truck, was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was in serious but stable condition last night, police said.
For reasons still undetermined, the truck hit the median and fell onto its side. The vehicle's trailer was carrying two vintage 1930s Ford pickup trucks at the time of the accident.
A Mazda 626 that had been in the far right northbound lane then struck the truck from behind, injuring the driver, an off-duty state trooper from Montgomery County.
Tfc. Stephen Sam Tom, 31, of Burtonsville, was treated for a minor hand injury at the scene and declined to be taken to the hospital. Two passengers in the car, Jane Nguyen Tom, 30, of Burtonsville, and Solange Larvor, 33, of Noisy-le-Sec, France, were unhurt.
Northbound traffic heading into Baltimore on I-95 was detoured onto Interstate 695 (the Baltimore Beltway) and I-895.
Part of the jackknifed truck's cab was hanging over the innermost southbound lane of I-95, and that lane was closed temporarily, transportation officials said.
The northbound lanes were reopened at 2: 13 p.m., officials said.