LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The fiery crash that shut down Interstate 65 Friday morning reignited concerns for safety in the busy traffic corridor through Louisville.
A semi crashed on I-65, caught fire, and briefly dangled over the concrete barrier near Jefferson Street before it plunged more than 20 feet to the street below. Amazingly, the driver escaped before the rig fell, and suffered only minor injuries to lower extremities from reportedly jumping from the cab.
The twists and turns of three interstates that converge in downtown Louisville near the Kennedy Bridge have a history of bad crashes. Locals still call the area "Spaghetti Junction," but the flyover ramps and mergers of Interstates 65, 64 and 71 were redesigned in 2015.
Ramps were redone in 2019 because semis kept overturning on the same curve. Crews resurfaced and repaired pavement, added rumble strips and installed new overhead signs.
But repeated crashes in the area are bringing up safety concerns again.
In a news conference Friday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said his office has reached out to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which has jurisdiction over interstates. He said the city had already been working with KYTC about safety along the I-65 corridor through Louisville after a series of recent crashes in the area. He said the city has come up with strategies to deal with safety along the interstate, but he did not elaborate.
"Law enforcement officials are conducting investigations into today's incident, and the Cabinet will review crash reports to evaluate contributing factors. KYTC engineers are on site evaluating the I-65 South bridge over I-64/I-71 for any damage resulting from the crash-related fire," KYTC said in a statement late Friday afternoon. "Today’s incident will be taken into consideration as part of an ongoing evaluation of enhancements in the area."
The agency later posted on social media that engineers inspected I-65 and found no damage to the roadway or Kennedy Bridge. It said the I-65 south ramp to Jefferson Street would reopen Friday evening after repairs to the crash cushion.
Over the past few months, there have been a series of crashes involving semitrucks in the I-65 corridor. In May, a semi driver lost control and crashed on southbound 65 near the Kennedy Bridge. The truck was dangling over the interstate barrier, when Louisville Fire lowered a firefighter to the cab to lift the driver to safety.
The same day, a semi driver lost control and struck a barrier that had been repaired from the earlier crash. The semi jackknifed, leaving the driver with minor injuries.
On Kentucky Derby Day, a car hauler overturned in the same area on I-65 south, just off the Kennedy Bridge. Vehicles that were on the trailer fell off and blocked traffic, as people were headed to Churchill Downs.
In September 2024, a very similar crash happened on I-65 when a semi smashed into a guardrail and caught fire. The fatal crash happened less than an hour after the interstate had reopened following crash of overturned semi that lost its load.
WDRB did an analysis of crash trends in the I-65 south area between the Kennedy Bridge and what is roughly considered the northern boundary of "hospital curve."
According to the Kentucky State Police database, there have been 13 crashes in that area so far in 2025. There were 37 in 2024, 21 in 2023, 23 in 2022 and 7 in 2021, which likely had fewer crashes because of reduced traffic during the pandemic.
The database shows that there have been 15 crashes since 2021 in the specific area where Friday's crash happened, including four injury crashes and one fatal in 2024.
This wasn't the first crash to happen there recently.
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