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POSTED: Friday, Oct. 31, 2008

Slick highway leads to car crashes on I-5

A slick highway created a mess on Interstate 5 through Bellingham shortly after 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, as more than 10 car-wrecks slowed traffic to a crawl at some points.

Most wrecks were fender-benders that left several people with minor injuries, Washington State Patrol Trooper Bob Wilson said. One person was transported to St. Joseph Hospital but everyone else was treated at the scene, Wilson said.

Wilson said the slickness might have been a result of a tanker truck from a local refinery leaking oil on the southbound lanes of the highway.

State Patrol troopers detected a fluid, which may have been oil or diesel fuel, from the Grandview Road exit down to Alger, Wilson said.

The Washington State Department of Transportation spread sand on this stretch of highway to give it more traction when drivers braked, Wilson said.

Troopers were investigating the source of the spill Friday evening by checking with the refineries to determine which had tankers depart around the time of the spill and whether or not those tankers had delivered their loads, Wilson said.

The majority of the accidents occurred in the southbound lanes of I-5 through Bellingham. Drivers spun out when they tried to brake on the slick road and hit other cars, signs and guardrails, Wilson said.

Some cars collided in the northbound lanes, possibly because drivers were distracted by the accidents in the southbound lanes, Wilson said.