Five-car crash snarls traffic on I-88

A crash involving five vehicles Wednesday morning in the makeshift express lane along westbound I-88 in DuPage County turned the thoroughfare into a parking lot.

One person was injured and transported to Edward Hospital in Naperville, state police said. The person's condition is unknown. State police also could not say immediately what car the injured person was in at the time of the crash.

The crash occurred just before 9 a.m. just west of the Finley Road overpass in Downers Grove. It was described as a chain-reaction crash where one car rear-ended another, which in turn caused the lead car to crash into the back of another car, and so on.

Motorists who decided to use the 11-mile express lane that begins near Route 83 and ends near the Winfield Road exit were at a standstill as emergency crews worked to clear the damaged vehicles from the one-lane roadway.

The express lane was created as construction workers rebuild the westbound lanes of the tollway as part of a widening project that will eventually add a lane in both directions. The eastbound lanes will be rebuilt next year.