Albany, WA: One Women Killed in a double crossover crash on on Interstate 5 near Albany on Thursday Morning

The cause of a double crossover crash that killed a woman on Interstate 5 near Albany on Thursday morning remains under investigation, said Oregon State Police Lt. Vonn Schleicher. The victim was identified as Amber Nichole Forest, 28, of Aumsville. The crash occurred at about 10:37 a.m. in the Millersburg area — a spot where the state plans to construct a median cable barrier next summer to help prevent similar wrecks. All lanes of Interstate 5 were closed for about four hours, and motorists were directed to alternative routes as highway traffic backed up for miles. Forest’s car, a Honda Civic, was headed northbound when it crossed over the median and smashed into a semi-truck and trailer going southbound, Schleicher said. Witness David Carpenter of West Linn said the semi-truck hit the guardrail on the west side of the freeway, careened across the grassy strip and into the northbound lanes before crashing into a cement barrier on the east side of the interstate. “Thankfully there was no accident on that side,” Carpenter said. The car came to rest in the median. The truck driver, Arthur Perez, 65, of College Place, Washington, was transported to Samaritan Albany General Hospital with minor injuries. Garrett Bell, who lives on nearby Berry Drive, said several motorists on the highway stopped to help. “It was horrible. ... Everything was kind of wild,” he added. There were no other occupants in the Civic or the semi-truck. Another semi-truck was damaged when it ran over debris in the roadway, and a second passenger car ended up in the median when it swerved to avoid the crash, Schleicher said. The Linn County Major Accident Investigation Team, which includes all Linn County law enforcement agencies, was dispatched to the scene to aid the investigation. The Oregon Department of Transportation plans to erect the cable barrier through most of Linn County in 2015, said agency spokesman Rick Little. The project, expected to cost $6.1 million, will go to bid next spring. Little said cable barriers reduce the number of crossover crashes on the highway, and reduce injuries from such crashes. Some smaller vehicles can slip under the cable barriers, and larger SUVs and semi trucks can smash through them, Little added. “It is not 100 percent prevention,” he said. Linn County saw 35 crossover crashes on Interstate 5 between 2008 and 2013, according to ODOT data. Four fatalities resulted from those crashes, as well as 43 injuries, Little said. Schleicher declined to speculate on whether a cable barrier could have prevented Thursday’s crash. Source: Victim identified in I-5 crash