Road crews work to clear wrecked vehicles and debris along Interstate 94, Saturday, Jan. 10, 0215, the day after a series of crashes closed the highway between mile markers 88 and 92 in eastern Kalamazoo County, near Galesburg, Mich. The number of vehicles involved in the series of crashes Friday has fluctuated. State police now say there were 193, including dozens of semi-trucks. A trucker from Ottawa, Canada, was killed and about two dozen people were taken to hospitals. (AP Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group, Christian Randolph) ALL LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION INTERNET OUT
The Associated Press
GALESBURG, Mich. (AP) - State transportation officials blame speed and driver behavior in a 193-vehicle pileup that killed one man and closed a stretch of Interstate 94 for two days.
State police are investigating Friday morning's chain reaction crashes along Interstate 94 near Galesburg in eastern Kalamazoo County, 150 miles east of Chicago.
"This boiled down to driver behavior," Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Nick Schirripa told the Kalamazoo Gazette (http://bit.ly/1waL8LM ). "People were driving too fast and following too closely on an icy freeway during a white-out."
A 57-year-old trucker from Quebec was killed and about two dozen people were taken to hospitals. A truck carrying fireworks caught fire, triggering an explosion. That driver wasn't hurt.
Efforts to reopen the highway stalled Saturday as crews tried to remove acid from a tanker truck. All lanes were reopened early Sunday.
The crashes were reported between mile markers 88 and 92. Friday's crashes had nothing to do with the design of the highway, Schirripa said.
State police have said the chain-reaction crashes in the westbound lanes likely started with drivers distracted by an earlier pileup on eastbound I-94.
The Transportation Department is reviewing the crashes to determine what lessons can be learned from the responses to the accidents and the cleanup, Schirripa said.
A 300-foot section of the eastbound lanes was charred by fire and will have to be replaced.
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Information from: Kalamazoo Gazette, http://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo
Road crews work to clear wrecked vehicles and debris along Interstate 94, Saturday, Jan. 10, 0215, the day after a series of crashes closed the highway between mile markers 88 and 92 in eastern Kalamazoo County, near Galesburg, Mich. The number of vehicles involved in the series of crashes Friday has fluctuated. State police now say there were 193, including dozens of semi-trucks. A trucker from Ottawa, Canada, was killed and about two dozen people were taken to hospitals. (AP Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group, Christian Randolph) ALL LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION INTERNET OUT
The Associated Press
Emergency personnel watch as fireworks ignite at the scene of a fiery crash that closed both sides of Interstate 94, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, between mile markers 88 and 92 in eastern Kalamazoo County, near Galesburg, Mich. State police say at least one person has died in the series of crashes involving roughly 150 vehicles, including at least two semi-trucks carrying fireworks and other hazardous materials. Authorities are blaming snow, wind and poor visibility in the crash. (AP Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group, Mark Bugnaski) ALL LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION INTERNET OUT
The Associated Press