Marine Drive head-on smashup injures one

Here’s why NE Marine Drive was closed for much of the afternoon, on September 28 …

Traffic backs up in outer East Portland on NE Marine Drive, after a head-on crash involving a semi tractor and a sedan, which sends the car’s driver to the hospital.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The Portland Bureau of Transportation sent out an alert on Monday afternoon, September 28, when semi truck tractor collided head-on with a maroon Lincoln LS-V8 sedan. It happened on NE Marine Drive, a bit west of the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (I-205 bridge).

At 12:32 p.m. seven medical first responder units – five with Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), and two AMR ambulances – were dispatched to the crash, having to snake around vehicles stopped for the wreck.

The front end of this semi tractor is demolished, but the driver wasn’t hurt – after it was hit, head-on by a Lincoln sedan.

A minute later, at 12:33 p.m., six Portland Police Bureau (PPB) units were also dispatched – while a Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office patrol unit blocked westbound traffic to Marine Drive at NE 122nd Avenue.

At least one person was trapped in the Lincoln, according to radio reports – soon freed by the PF&R Parkrose Station’s Truck 2 crew using heavy rescue power tools.

A PPB Traffic Division officer makes notes at the crash scene.

“It appears a semi-truck tractor was headed eastbound on NE Marine Drive, and the passenger car traveling westbound, when a head-on collision occurred,” said PPB Public Information Officer Melissa Newhard after consulting reports.

“The preliminary investigation shows the driver of the passenger car crossed the center line and struck the semi-truck head on; and did so for reasons unknown at this time,” Newhard told East Portland News.

This Lincoln sedan looks to be totaled, after reportedly swerving into a semi tractor.

“The driver of the passenger car was transported to a hospital – condition unknown at this time,” Newhard informed. “The driver of the semi-truck tractor escaped without injury.”

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