Four semis were involved in a traffic accident on Interstate 57 Thursday afternoon.
Illinois State Police say the four vehicles were traveling north in the right lane on I-57 north of milepost 43 in Williamson County.
Traffic was backed up and stopping due to I-57 northbound and I-24 westbound merging into the construction zone. While two of the semis had stopped and a third was almost stopped, the fourth one did not stop and set off a chain reaction where each semi hit the one directly in front of it.
The first two units caught fire, damaging the pavement and guard rails.
I-57 was closed at the crash scene for about six hours to clean up the mess.
One of the four truck drivers was injured. Troopers say 43-year-old Todd Tittle of Thomasboro received minor injuries. He was treated at Heartland Regional Medical Center.
The other three drivers were not hurt. They are 49-year-old Daniel Durham, Sr. from Manteno; 61-year-old James Grissom of Hamburg; and 55-year-old Patricia Krueger from New Mexico. A passenger in her truck, 44-year-old Chad Krueger, was not injured.
Durham, Sr. was charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and following too closely.
