Early Wednesday morning, commuter traffic along southbound Interstate 5 through Seattle was brought to a near standstill following a major crash involving two semi-trucks on the iconic Ship Canal Bridge. The collision occurred around 5:28 a.m. just south of Northeast 45th Street at milepost 169, forcing state authorities to immediately block three of the main southbound lanes. Washington State Patrol troopers and Incident Response Teams from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) rushed to the scene to assess the damage and begin clearing heavy vehicles from the roadway. The early-morning wreck stranded thousands of drivers heading toward Downtown Seattle right at the start of the morning peak rush hour.
The sudden lane closures triggered severe traffic congestion across the northern Seattle corridor. At its peak, the wreckage created a massive bumper-to-bumper tailback extending between 5 to 7 miles back into Shoreline. Commuters faced unexpected delays ranging from 50 minutes to nearly an hour just to pass through the bridge bottleneck. To complicate matters, ongoing long-term construction projects further south had already reduced the left lane capacity, leaving only a single far-right lane available for moving traffic during the initial phase of the emergency response.
Despite the dramatic scene and significant structural blockage, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson confirmed that no major injuries were reported from the collision. Heavy-duty tow trucks were dispatched to separate and haul away the commercial vehicles while crews inspected the roadway for fuel spills and scattered debris. During the clearance effort, WSDOT urged motorists to seek alternate bypass routes such as State Route 99. However, regional traffic monitors noted that secondary arterial routes quickly filled up, compounding transit challenges for commuters across the entire Puget Sound region.
By approximately 8:00 a.m., emergency crews and WSDOT response personnel successfully cleared the damaged semi-trucks and reopened all travel lanes across the Ship Canal Bridge. Traffic cameras verified that vehicle flow had resumed, though residual congestion lingered throughout the remainder of the morning commute due to the sheer volume of delayed traffic. State transportation officials continue to remind drivers to stay vigilant around active construction zones and commercial transport vehicles along Interstate 5.
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