Washington State Patrol responds to multiple crashes on snowy Spokane highways

Three highway crashes within a half-hour in the Spokane area caused significant delays Tuesday, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Around 4 p.m., snowplow crews were changing shifts and heading out to clear and treat roads, WSDOT reported via Twitter.

Within five minutes, WSDOT reported a crash on the North Spokane Corridor on U.S. Highway 395 just beyond the Wandermere Bridge. A line of dozens of cars was forming behind the crash on the foggy, snow-powdered highway.

Five minutes after reporting that crash, WSDOT tweeted that a crash on Intersate 90 near Liberty Lake at mile post 298 was blocking a lane. Close to 100 cars were backed up in the area behind the crash.

Just a few minutes later, as the first accident scene cleared out, WSDOT warned of a third crash. On westbound I-90 near the Broadway interchange, one car was on the left shoulder and another was on the right shoulder, causing more delays.

Just before 4 p.m., a commercial vehicle and car collided on Dishman Mica Road, 4 miles south of Spokane Valley. The car’s driver was transported to a hospital with minor injuries while the commercial vehicle driver left uninjured, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.

It wasn’t the first day of mayhem on snowy roads this week.

Monday, Washington State Patrol trooper Jeff Sevigney said troopers had responded to 60 crashes from midnight to 6:30 p.m. in District 4, which reaches from the Canadian border to just south of Colfax.

“We’ve had worse days,” he wrote on Twitter. “This was still too many.”