Highway 1 has re-opened following a multi-vehicle collision that brought traffic to a halt on Friday evening.
The pileup occurred at about 4:50 p.m. just east of 176th Street in Surrey.
Westbound lanes on the highway were blocked between the scene of the collision and 200th Street, including the HOV lane. Backups were reported as far as 232nd just a short time after the crash.
The highway re-opened at 7:50 p.m.
Driver Wanda Rathgeber had been stuck about half a kilometre from the Highway 15 exit for about an hour when she spoke to CTV News at 6 p.m. on Friday. She said some tried to turn around on the shoulders and got stuck.
"So we've got traffic heading west on the westbound lanes and we've got some traffic trying to head back east on the westbound lanes trying to get out of this," she said.
Fortunately, drivers seemed to handle the gridlock well, and got out to stretch their legs when they realized they'd be stuck for a long time.
“We very much appreciate their patience…and recognized it inconvenienced a number of people,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Dan Guilfoyle told CTV Vancouver at the scene.
Guilfoyle said that six vehicles were involved in the crash, including an on-duty, unmarked police vehicle that “was simply travelling on the highway.”
He said the officer was taken to hospital in stable condition. Several others were treated at the scene.
The front end of a white Jeep was smashed in, and a blue vehicle had damage to the front and back. A tan car could be seen with its trunk open, and debris was scattered several hundred metres along the highway.
The Port Mann Freeway Patrol is investigating the incident along with the RCMP’s Integrated Collision Analyst and Reconstructionist Services.
