Weather was believed to be a factor with heavy rain in the area.
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| ©Channel 12 News |
| Multiple vehicle collisions are being reported on U.S. 60 westbound between Interstate 10 and Dobson Road Thursday evening. |
That portion of the freeway has been closed and is expected to reopen by 9 p.m. Loop 101 access to westbound U.S. 60 is also shut down.
At least six wrecker trucks were still removing damaged vehicles and sweeping up debris in the roadway at about 8:15 p.m., more than two hours after the initial collisions were reported.
Four people were taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, according to Sgt. Tim Mason, a Department of Public Safety spokesman.
"We're very fortunate not very many people were injured," Mason said. "We're very fortunate nobody lost their lives, but mother nature definitely had a hand in this situation."
Nearly an hour after the first incidents were reported about 6 p.m., ambulances, helicopters and other emergency vehicles continued to respond to the scene.
Freeway ramps in the area were shut down and surface street traffic in the vicinity was bumper-to-bumper.
Onlookers gathered along areas where they could see onto the freeway, including children on scooters.
A Tempe Fire Department truck blocked access to the westbound frontage road at McClintock Drive and U.S. 60. According to police scanner traffic, one of the wrecks was a single vehicle that had crashed into a wall near Kyrene Road.
A pregnant woman with a head injury was reported to have been in an accident westbound near Dobson Road.
There was a late model sedan with its front end caved in right below the Rural Road overpass. About 100 yards west of that was another small fender bender.
