One person is dead after a car crashed into the back of a stopped tractor-trailer on I-20 East in DeKalb County early Friday morning, authorities said.
The wreck happened near Wesley Chapel Road, east of Atlanta, and completely shut down the interstate just hours after I-20 had been closed west of the city in Douglas County, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Starting around 5 p.m. Thursday, traffic was shut down on I-20 West just past the Chapel Hill Road exit due to a chemical spill from a tractor-trailer. Police allowed drivers stuck on the interstate to drive in the opposite direction and exit onto Chapel Hill Road, the Traffic Center reported.
Authorities shut down the eastbound lanes in the area just before 5:30 p.m. and directed traffic onto Ga. 5 until about 9 p.m., when the interstate was reopened in both directions.
Less than four hours later, just before 1:30 a.m., a car plowed into the back of a tractor-trailer stopped on I-20 East just past Wesley Chapel Road, DeKalb police said. The driver, who was not publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Death investigations on highways typically take longer than other traffic cases, and I-20 was again shut down for nearly four hours. Authorities kept traffic away from the scene by diverting drivers from I-285 onto Covington Highway, the Traffic Center reported.
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