Traffic Congestion Causes Long Waits On Eastbound I-44 Sunday

Sundays along eastbound Interstate 44 between Bourbon and St. Clair have become at many times a parking lot of delays from mid-morning until evening as a tremendous volume of traffic returning east from various lakes and rivers seem to converge on this stretch, causing mass congestion. Once an accident occurs, things tend to get worse, as observed Sunday, July 28.

Emergency crews worked a non-injury tractor trailer accident on eastbound I-44 Sunday morning at 2:11 a.m. when a tractor trailer overturned in median at the 226 exit.

This accident left crews cleaning up the wreckage into mid-morning Sunday as traffic began to file in from the busy weekend. At 11 a.m., as traffic continued to back up, a second accident involving three to four vehicles at eastbound 227.6 mile marker led to a complete stop once again.

While this accident proved to also involve no injuries, congestion began to back up once again, stretching for miles eastbound.

With this much congestion in the area, there were sections of I-44 that would open up to nearly full speed traffic only to come upon stretches of completely stopped traffic.

At 12:39 p.m. things went poorly once again when an eastbound 2018 Ford Edge, driven by Claire E. Payne, 20, Granbury, Texas, and a 2018 Nissan Rogue, driven by Kimecha A. Schneider, 48, St. Peters, were both stopped in traffic when a 2016 Freightliner, driven eastbound by Tomas Alvarez, 62, San Antonio, Texas, was unable to stop in time and struck the left front side of the Payne vehicle. The Alvarez semi then struck the rear of the Schneider vehicle. The Alvarez vehicle then struck the overpass and median cable barrier while the Schneider vehicle struck the median cable barrier and came back into the roadway coming to a rest.

All three drivers received minor injuries and were transported by Missouri Baptist Ambulance to Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital for treatment.

Both passenger vehicles were a total loss while the semi truck and trailer sustained extensive damages.

Law enforcement is very concerned about the number of accident occurring in this stretch of roadway not only on Sundays but throughout various times of the week with a number of the accidents being fatalities.

Officials remind motorists to be very alert at all times behind the wheel and look for these types of events during heavy traffic times that may cause traffic congestion or complete stops.’