WIXOM (WWJ) - One Rochester Hills woman was pronounced dead on the scene of a serious car crash on westbound I-96 in Oakland County Saturday afternoon, forcing all lanes to close and snarling traffic for hours.
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As of 3 p.m. Saturday, all lanes heading west were reopened after Michigan State Police investigated two crashes reported in the area, one of them fatal.
A preliminary investigation into the fatal crash found that a 65-year-old Macomb man driving a blue Dodge Ram slammed into the back of a red Kia that was stopped due to slow-moving traffic in a construction zone.
The truck was traveling around 70 mph in the left lane before the driver realized he needed to merge due to an upcoming lane closure. He changed to the center lane where he was unable to safely stop his vehicle before rear-ending the Kia, prompting a chain reaction as the Kia was forced into a Subaru in front of it.
The impact killed the 28-year-old Rochester Hills resident who was a passenger in the back seat of the red Kia.
The driver and front seat passenger of the Kia were both taken to Providence Hospital in Novi for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
MSP said no others involved in the crash were hurt.
All westbound lanes were closed from the I-275 interchange all the way to Wixom Road for several hours.
WWJ Traffic Reporter Oneil Stevens said there some residual slow spots as traffic resumes. Earlier, authorities were blocking drivers from getting on WB I-96 entrance ramps from Novi and Beck Roads while police investigated the crashes.
Drivers were rerouted south to Novi Road before taking W. Grand River Ave. where access to I-96 west was available at Kensington Road.
Stay with WWJ's Traffic and Weather on the 8s as we receive more information about this developing story.
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