Burning vehicle blocks traffic on major Columbia highway during commute, SC cops say
Traffic was blocked on a major highway running through Columbia Wednesday evening during the rush hour commute, the South Carolina Department of Transportation said.
A burning vehicle caused multiple northbound lanes to be closed on Interstate 77, SCDOT tweeted.
The vehicle fire that blocked two of three lanes was reported just after 5:30 p.m., according to the tweet. Just before 6:30 p.m., all the lanes were reopened, SCDOT said.
The vehicle fire was near Exit 2 on I-77, for 12th Street heading to Cayce. It backed up traffic near Exit 5, the Bluff Road and I-26 connection, according to SCDOT.
Drivers four miles away from the vehicle were having speeds reduced to an average of 27 mph on the highway, per SCDOT.
Information on what caused the fire was not available.
No injuries were reported, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Five-vehicle wreck
A collision in Lexington County was also causing trouble for drivers during the evening commute.
Traffic was blocked in the 5100 block of Sunset Boulevard (US-378) following a five vehicle crash, the Lexington Police Department tweeted. That’s near the shopping mall with Target and Best Buy.
Both inbound lanes of traffic were blocked until just before 6:30 p.m., police tweeted.
A distracted driver was tailgating the car in front of it, causing the collision, police said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
This story was originally published July 31, 2019 at 5:52 PM.
