I-77 south back open after deadly crashes in Carroll Co.

9:55 p.m.

State Police blame the weather for a series of five crashes that killed two people, sent 16 others to the hospital, and blocked Interstate 77 on Fancy Gap Mountain in Carroll County for much of Tuesday afternoon and into the night.

Troopers say the chaos began a little after 11:30 a.m., when a group of passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers crashed in the fog near mile marker six on I-77 southbound, about two miles south of the Fancy Gap exit.  Within minutes afterwards, State Police say two additional crashes took place between mile markers four and seven.

State Police described the scene as "vehicles are literally stacked on top of one another. Tractor-trailers are jackknifed and/or overturned onto their sides."

Officers say two people died in the I-77 southbound crashes, while rescue crews took the injured to hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina.  Of the 16 who were hurt, State Police say four were seriously hurt.  Neither of the two people killed were from Virginia, according to State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.  As of Tuesday night, State Police were still trying to contact the families of the victims.

The traffic back-up was so severe, that State Police asked VDOT to shut down the I-77 southbound spur at Fort Chiswell in Wythe County early Tuesday afternoon, according to VDOT spokeswoman Heidi Underwood.  Police detoured cars, SUVs, and pick-up trucks already on I-77 south to Route 58 at the Hillsville exit, then onto Route 52 south to North Carolina. Troopers kept tractor-trailers on I-77.

Dozens of tow-truck and wrecker drivers were brought in to help clear I-77 southbound.  It re-opened as of 9:45 p.m., according to VDOT. 

WSLS reporter Erin Barnett got to the area of the crash scene between 4-4:30 p.m., after having to take a detour into North Carolina, and come back up I-77 northbound.  She described the fog on the mountain, even five hours after the original crashes, as so thick, that she could barely see the car in front of her.  Erin drove slow, around 20 MPH, through the area, and could barely see the emergency lights coming from the southbound side.

Then to compound the problems, State Police say two additional crashes happened on I-77 northbound around 5:00 p.m., just a mile north of the crashes on the southbound side.  Troopers say one of the northbound side crashes involved two tractor-trailers, then a third tractor-trailer ran off into the median.  Luckily, troopers say no one was hurt.

The northbound side crashes caused State Police to shut down traffic at the Virginia-North Carolina border for about two hours.

Troopers tell us in total, about 75 vehicles were involved in the I-77 crashes on both sides, including both passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers.

After the crashes were cleared, troopers used what they call a "slow roll" on both sides.  State Police described the "slow roll" as police cruisers with emergency lights on, putting themselves in front of the traffic in both lanes, to set a safe speed for drivers behind to follow.

Crash statistics from VDOT showed that crashes had been going down on I-77 southbound from Hillsville to the Virginia-North Carolina line. For the most recent calendar years available, VDOT's data shows:

2006: 52 crashes

2007: 49 crashes

2008: 46 crashes