This was the Cause of the Traffic Nightmare Yesterday on I-90

If you found yourself crawling (or completely stopped) on westbound I-90 near milepost 265 yesterday, you definitely weren’t alone. The slowdowns lasted for almost 11 hours!

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Just before 10 a.m. Yesterday (Wednesday, May 28), the Washington State Patrol was called to a crash where a travel trailer being towed had flipped over. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the scene quickly turned into a logistical nightmare and took most of the day to clear.

X @WSDOT_East

All I-90 Westbound Lanes Blocked for Hours

The crash completely blocked all westbound lanes, with traffic rerouted and miles of backup stretching for hours. Photos from WSP showed the trailer flipped onto its side and slammed against the guardrail.

The truck hauling it ended up tilted backward with its rear wheels off the ground, and was balanced on the hitch like a teeter-totter.

The trailer took heavy damage when it splintered open and spilled debris everywhere. Newly released photos show camping gear, multiple bicycles, and packed baggage ended up scattered along the shoulder of the highway.

By around 11 a.m., the left lane had reopened, but traffic remained slow-moving through the afternoon. Towing away a trailer that has broken into parts can not be an easy job.

X @WSDOT_East

New Details Explain the Long Delay

An update from WSP showed exactly how much of a mess cleanup crews had to deal with. The trailer didn’t just flip, it split in half lengthwise and broke into parts. It looks like the trailer split when crews tried to detach the truck from the hitch. When the trailer splintered, everything that was inside the trailer poured out onto the road.

In one photo, you can see several damaged bicycles tangled in a pile, beach towels, lawn chairs, and travel bags gathered together near the back of the wreck. Because the trailer broke apart, it had to be removed in pieces, and that added hours to the cleanup.

The highway wasn’t officially declared cleared until 8:44 p.m., almost 11 hours after the crash first happened.