Fatal Crash On I-84 In Middlebury Snarls Traffic For Hours

MIDDLEBURY — A Massachusetts woman was killed in a six-vehicle chain-reaction accident on eastbound Interstate 84 between Exits 16 and 17 at about 4 pm on Tuesday, resulting in I-84 traffic tie-ups in both directions which lasted for more than seven hours.

Motorist Laurie Carvalho, 41, of Attleborough, Mass, who was driving a compact 2011 Nissan Rogue SUV, was killed when her vehicle was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer truck, state police said. Others involved in the crash were transported to Waterbury Hospital for treatment of injuries, state police said.

State police closed down the eastbound lanes of I-84 while an accident reconstruction investigation was underway, resulting in traffic backing up through Newtown. Motorists seeking to avoid the highway backups took adjacent secondary roads as alternate routes, resulting in those roads becoming clogged with traffic.