Nogales, AZ : Driver killed in crash on I-19 identified as Rio Rico woman on Wednesday, January 4th 2017

The driver killed Wednesday morning in a crash on Interstate 19 near Amado has been identified as Christy Lee Drakopulos, 64, of Rio Rico.

Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said in an email Thursday that Drakopulos was traveling north in a Volkswagen sedan at 9:30 a.m. “in an unknown lane at an unknown speed” when she lost control.

“The vehicle veered into the center median, where it collided with a tree and came to rest,” he said.

Drakopulos, who was the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The driver was not wearing her seatbelt properly,” Graves added.

The northbound lanes of the highway were briefly closed at Agua Linda Road (Exit 42) as a result of the crash.

The incident comes amid an Arizona Department of Transportation safety project to remove roadside trees along Interstate 19 and turn them into mulch.

As of Dec. 31, there had been 42 injury accidents involving trees along I-19 in the previous five years, ADOT spokesman Tom Herrmann told the Sahuarita Sun. Three people died in those crashes.

The project, which covers about 560 acres, extends from the Nogales area north to between San Xavier and Valencia roads in Tucson, Herrmann said.

“The motivation behind this project is strictly safety,” he told the Sun. “We will be removing trees and other woody vegetation that is within 30 feet of travel lanes to give drivers a safety zone to recover control of their vehicle or bring it to a stop.”

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Driver killed in crash on I-19 identified as Rio Rico woman