Traffic is flowing again on Interstate 75 near Detroit in both directions. Crews have cleared the roads after white out conditions led to multiple collisions along the interstate. At least three people were killed.
1:53 p.m.
Traffic is flowing again on northbound Interstate 75 while authorities clear the remaining vehicles that crashed in a sudden snow squall on the south side of the expressway and claimed at least three lives.
At least half a dozen semi-trucks along with other damaged vehicles are still waiting to be moved. Crews are working to clean up a spill of diesel fuel from the crash.
State police say the south side of I-75 could be cleared by the afternoon rush hour.
1:04 p.m.
As is the nature of these events, we're getting revised numbers from the Michigan State Police on the number killed in the accident. They now say three people have died, including two children.
12:00 p.m.
Southbound I-75 near Detroit could be closed for some time today. WDIV-TV is reporting clean-up of the crash will take 12-16 hours.
The Detroit Free Press has this first hand account from a driver caught in the crash:
11:41 a.m.
We're hearing the following information on the crash this morning:
Four Three deaths are reported and 15 to 20 people have been transported to local hospitals. No one remains trapped in damaged vehicles.
There were 15 vehicles involved in accidents spread out over a mile stretch. The Michigan State Police spokesman said accidents occurred in 'pockets.' He blamed white out conditions for vehicles failing to stop in time.
Dozens of undamaged vehicles remain in the accident zone. Those vehicles will be moved as the accident scenes are cleared.
You can watch live coverage of the crash scene from WDIV-TV.
11:07 a.m.
The Detroit News reports the massive pileup has closed southbound I-75 in Detroit and that emergency responders are on the scene.
More from the Detroit News:
The accident scene is reportedly from Springwells to Schaeffer Highway. Emergency crews are evaluating the scene for a potential fuel spill.
Preliminary reports suggest the crash is fatal. Michigan State Police, EMS and the Detroit Fire Department are on the scene. A warming bus also has been requested.
"What we have heard so far is an unconfirmed report that there was a crash shortly after 9 a.m., and that there were chain reaction crashes after that," said Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi. "Multiple police, fire and EMS responders are making their way to the scene. We are doing everything we can to help them reach the crash site."
10:53 a.m.
WDIV-TV is reporting on a crash along I-75 in Detroit this morning. The Detroit News tweets the crash and back-up is over a mile long.
A massive crash involving more than a dozen cars has closed portions of I-75 in Detroit.
The northbound lanes are closed at Schaefer. The southbound lanes are closed at Springwells.
Local 4 spoke with several drivers at the scene who were able to get out of their cars safely and get off the interstate. They said white-out weather conditions made it very hard to see and contributed to the chain-reaction crash.
You can say one thing about the backers of the M-1 light rail project in Detroit, they're persistent.
The on-again, off-again federal funding of the project is now on-again, according to reports from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.
The Freep reports U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is expected to visit Detroit next week with $25 million for the light rail project along 3.3 miles of Woodward Avenue.
The rail line is proposed between downtown Detroit and New Center.
A Kansas-based company says it has a deal to buy the short line Michigan rail company Ann Arbor Railroad Inc.
Pittsburg, Kan.-based Watco Companies LLC says the deal awaits approval from the Surface Transportation Board, which is expected in late January or early February.
The Ann Arbor Railroad serves southeastern Michigan and the Toledo, Ohio, areas, mainly shipping auto and other manufacturing goods. It operates 50 miles of track between Ann Arbor and Toledo and has Toledo-area terminals serving General Motors Co., Chrysler and Ford Motor Co.
Adie Tomer spoke with Stateside about the possibility of mass transit in Michigan.
Michigan’s Regional Transit Authority will attempt to redesign travel throughout the state.
Adie Tomer, a Senior Research Associate at the Brookings Institution, says implementing a mass transit system in Detroit is entirely possible. Tomer says the state has put spending highway infrastructure ahead of spending on mass transit.
"One of the consequences of building out so many highways… is an underinvestment relative to those highway miles for public transit. In many ways, this left Detroit as one of the few cities without a major mass transit system," said Tomer.
The Michigan Senate recently passed a bill to create an authority for Detroit and surrounding counties to operate its own transit system.
However, the bill faces significant hurdles in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry and Daniel Howes of the Detroit News addressed the various obstacles the bill must overcome.
The bill is decades in the making and has wide support throughout Michigan, but Howes says the reason it has not yet passed is due to a history of control issues.
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