One dead, I-95 blocked for hours after car, tractor-trailer collide in Broward

Robin Webb, Amy Beth Bennett, David Lyons, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Updated ·2 min read

A tractor-trailer driver died early Friday in a fiery crash involving a car that led to an hours-long shutdown of northbound Interstate 95 near State Road 84.

Well past midday, hundreds of motorists traveling north along I-95 were diverted by police to the east-west Interstate 595 after the crash blocked all northbound lanes of I-95 about 6:20 a.m.

The 2008 Volvo tractor with a 2014 Stoughton trailer overturned and caught fire on I-95, leading to the death of the driver who has yet to be identified pending notification of next of kin, according to a report released by the Florida Highway Patrol.

As of 2 p.m., all lanes of northbound I-95 remained closed and southbound traffic slowed to 10 to 15 mph as motorists drove past the charred wreckage of the truck.

According to the FHP report, the crash unfolded this way:

A black 2021 Nissan Ultima sedan driven by an unidentified Pompano Beach woman, 39, collided for unknown reasons “with the rear portion” of the truck’s trailer while both were headed north on I-95.

After the collision, the truck “traveled in a northwesterly direction towards the median” of I-95, hit a concrete median wall “and traveled into a portion of the median that is currently under construction,” the report said.

As the truck traveled over the median, it flipped onto its roof, with the right side colliding with an unoccupied trailer in the construction zone.

The truck “came to rest on its roof, with its left side in contact with the concrete median wall and the right side in contact with the unoccupied trailer.”

Then, the truck “became fully engulfed in flames,” the report said.

The car, meanwhile, “was driven to a stop facing north while occupying the outside and outside center lane of northbound Interstate 95,” according to the report, which offered no further details.

An investigation is continuing.

The area involved is part of the $457 million I-95 Express Phase 3C project, which runs along I-95 from south of Hollywood Boulevard to south of Broward Boulevard, and along I-595 from west of State Road 7 to I-95.