Ice Causes Multi-Vehicle Accident Involving a Semi

Slick roads caused by freezing rain caused dozens of traffic accidents at the end of last week.  On Friday afternoon, one accident temporarily closed the Parks Highway near Mile 47.

According to the Alaska State Troopers and the Matanuska Susitna Borough, Michael Dugan of Wasilla was driving a Dodge Durango north on the highway just after 4:00 pm when he lost control of the vehicle and hit the trailer of an oncoming semi.  This caused the semi driver, Daniel Morris of Utah, to lose control of the trailer, which fishtailed into a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Steven Cooper of Wasilla.  The drivers of both SUVs and one passenger were transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.  None of their injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

The crash left the semi trailer obscuring about two-thirds of the road.  By 6:30 pm, traffic was moving slowly through the site of the accident.  Detours to avoid the accident site caused back-ups on Pittman and Church Roads.