Friday crashes cause traffic trouble on Interstate 55 at Cape Girardeau

Interstate 55 was the site of six accidents in Cape Girardeau on Friday, four in the morning caused by icy roads and two shortly after lunch -- the latter which closed the southbound lane to traffic for 45 minutes, police said.

None were hurt in any of the wrecks, police said. Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman Darin Hickey said the four morning accidents involved single vehicles, although two of the vehicles rolled over, one crossed the median and another slid off the road into the grass.

The morning accidents took place near mile marker 93 in a one-hour span that began shortly after 6 a.m.

After lunch, southbound traffic was shut down when two accidents happened near mile marker 98 within two minutes of each other, said police Sgt. Kevin Orr. Both of the afternoon accidents were rear-end crashes, Orr said. The first accident occurred at 12:55 p.m., when one vehicle struck another in the rear. The same thing happened again a few minutes later with two other vehicles that were approaching the first accident, Orr said.

"There's no question the first accident was a contributor to the second," Orr said. Traffic was held up until tow trucks could remove the vehicles from the interstate, Orr said.

Pertinent address:

Interstate 55, Cape Girardeau, MO