West Columbia, SC (Paul Kirby) - A collision involving at least six vehicles has snarled traffic on I-26 near the 111 mm or the Augusta Road exit eastbound early Friday morning. The call regarding the collision came in shortly before 6:00 a.m.
South Carolina state troopers rushed to the scene and emergency equipment from the West Columbia Fire Department along with medical personnel and equipment from Lexington County’s EMS were also at the scene of the collisions. The SCDOT camera system showed that all eastbound lanes of I-26 were blocked close to the 111 exits at 6:10 a.m. Friday.
This is the second multi vehicle collision to occur on I-26 in the eastbound lanes Friday morning. One earlier in the morning near the 89 mile-marker just west of the Chapin exit happened closer to 4:30 AM. In that case, a tree fell across the road and several vehicles collided with it at high speeds. Other vehicles then began a chain reaction collision behind those.
At just a few minutes after 6:00 am. Friday, another collision was reported on Augusta Road right at the I-26 overpass. The West Columbia Police Department responded to deal with that. Law enforcement officials have not said whether this was associated with the one reported on the Interstate.
A Lexington Ledger follower called at 6:15 a.m. to report another accident had just occurred on I-26 east between the Sunset Boulevard and Augusta Road exits. He said it appeared as if the driver of that vehicle did not see the stopped traffic in time and slammed into the back of a vehicle stopped by the traffic caused by the first collision.
We will try to update the story as more information becomes available throughout the morning.
