News 4 Jax reports on a tragic accident in Jacksonville that claimed the lives of a 21-year-old Jacksonville woman and her 23-year-old passenger in an accident Tuesday.
The incident occurred around 5:45 p.m. on Interstate 95, in a stretch of highway that’s been raising safety concerns recently due to construction on the roadway. The victim was driving a Kia Optima near the Lem Turner Road exit. A tractor-trailer driver hit a concrete barrier and lost control of the truck, striking the Kia and causing both vehicles to crash into a guardrail. While the 65-year-old truck driver was uninjured, the occupants of the Kia were both killed.
Frequent drivers of the roadway were quick to point out that stretch of Interstate 95 is treacherous, especially in wet conditions. The curves, short merging lane from the on-ramp, and slick roadway when wet combine to create dangerous situations for motorists.
However, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation denied that any construction was taking place on Tuesday, stating only a stretch of I-95 between Norwood and Edgewood Avenues is being resurfaced. “FDOT encourages drivers to always act responsibly on the roadway, follow the posted speed limit, not drive distracted and obey the laws of the road,” the spokesperson said in a statement.