Company failed to monitor and address icy highway before deadly I-35W pileup, feds find
A failure to effectively monitor and treat icy roads and speeding contributed to a February 2021 pileup crash on Interstate 35W in which six people were killed, according to a new report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Six were killed in the 133-vehicle pileup on an icy patch of southbound TEXPress lanes near Northside Drive in Fort Worth. The National Transportation Safety Board in a preliminary report released in April found that the lanes had been treated for ice with a brine solution 44 hours before the crash. The incident occurred around 6 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2021.
North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners is responsible for treating the roadway for ice.
The board in January made hundreds of pages documents related to the pileup public. It included one from Mobility Partners that found that the average vehicle speed on I-35 West 15 minutes before the collision was 65 mph in the right lane and 82 in the left. At one point less than 15 minutes before the crash, speed in the left lane topped 100 mph.
According to the document, signs 1.9 miles and 3 miles from the crash site indicated that bridges may ice in cold weather and dynamic message signs warned of ice on roads.
Other documents made public included transcripts of witness interviews, a meteorological report and photos from the crash area. The documents released in January did not draw a conclusion about the cause of the incident.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
