Two crashes caused 10-mile backup on I-90 this morning

A couple of minor collisions on Interstate-90 this morning caused a "catastrophic" traffic backup that stretched 10 miles from Mercer Island through Issaquah.

"There was nothing spectacular about the collisions, but they just happened to hit during the peak commute hours on I-90 in the Mercer Island lid and cause one of the worst backups during the morning rush that we've had in a long time," said Trooper Jeff Merill with the Washington State Patrol.

"The backups were catastrophic," he said.

As of 10:30 this morning, a Washington State Patrol dispatcher said the back-up had dissipated and traffic appeared to be moving normally.

Merrill said the first accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. in the westbound, main line of Interstate-90 in the Mercer Island tunnel and the second occurred in the aftermath of the first collision, he said. One accident involved a semi-truck and the other involved a box van and both were likely due to drivers making careless lane changes, he said.

Merrill said shoulder space is limited in that portion of the freeway and it took a long time for tow trucks to arrive at the scene, Merrill said. There were no serious injuries but one driver was taken to the hospital as a precaution, he said.

The accidents occurred near milepost 7 and the back-up stretched at least to milepost 17, Merrill said.