 Firefighters help drivers during a pileup on Highway 416 northbound near Ottawa, Ont., Monday, Dec. 14, 2009. More than 70 vehicles were involved in chain reaction crashes on fog-shrouded Hwy. 416. (QMI/Andre Forget)
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OTTAWA — Hwy. 416 has reopened after the northbound lanes were closed for five hours after a series of chain-reaction pileups this morning involving more than 70 vehicles.
The northbound lanes in the area of Bankfield Rd. reopened at about 1 p.m., OPP report. The southbound lanes are closed briefly (as of 1:15 p.m.) to remove a tractor trailer from the crash, but that was not expected to take very long.
Six people were taken to hospital but all had relatively minor injuries, Ottawa paramedics report.
Crews were called to crashes at four locations along a couple of kilometres of the northbound lanes. The first crash involved three cars at 7:29 a.m., near the Fallowfield exit.
The other three pileups occurred in rapid succession just before 8 a.m. near the Bankfield Rd. overpass. Fire department officials at the scene said at these incidents, a couple of vehicles were involved in one scene north of the Bankfield bridge, while at the bridge stretching to the south 32 vehicles were involved in a second crash.
A few hundred meters south of that, 40 vehicles were involved in a third pileup.
At least one tractor trailer was involved, and one vehicle ended up on its roof. One pregnant woman was rushed from the scene but her injuries were also minor -- and contrary to earlier reports she was not in labour.
Four other people were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Stuart Dean was driving from Kemptville to Kanata when he came upon one crashes around 7:45 a.m.
"(I) saw both lines (with) stopped cars, obviously an accident," said Dean, whose silver Chrysler 300 remained in the grassy median. "I decided the best way was just to go straight in the ditch."
OC Transpo buses were brought in to shelter or remove motorists who were stuck at the scene.
Another motorist involved in the crashes told the Sun that conditions "suddenly got super foggy" at the scene.
Heavy fog across the city severely reduced visibility in many areas. The fog also made road conditions slick, making it difficult to slow down or stop approaching the scene of the original accident.
