“I-5 southbound at the Center Street overpass in DuPont following a fiery crash at Mounts Road near the Pierce- Thurston County line is closed while emergency crews clear a car fire that killed one person on Monday, Dec. 16, 2013.”
Photo credit: Dean Koepfler, The Olympian Staff Photographer, in multiple-hour back-up

Yelm’s southbound arteries were in gridlock all afternoon Monday with diverted I-5 traffic, which occurs several times a year.

From Adam Lynn in The Olympian:
“Some people, including many who sat in the backup for hours, were left wondering why it took authorities more than 10 hours Monday to reopen southbound Interstate 5 near DuPont after a fiery wreck that left a man dead. ”

“Troopers were no closer Tuesday to determining what caused the wreck, which happened about 10:15 a.m. when a man lost control of his northbound pickup, crossed the median, hit a box truck and slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer, killing the driver of that rig and prompting the long-term closure of part of the interstate.”

“Troopers diverted some traffic off the interstate and along a route that took southbound drivers through Yelm before reconnecting them with I-5 at points south, but it did little to alleviate congestion.”