Commuters heading into Mobile on Monday morning ran into two separate accidents that backed up traffic on two of the region’s main routes into the city.
The first crash was reported on Interstate 65 southbound near the Highway 43 exit, in the vicinity of Satsuma. Witnesses reported a vehicle fire at the scene, with dark smoke visible from a considerable distance as drivers approached the area. Photos shared on social media by local traffic watchers showed a vehicle fully engulfed near the Celeste Road exit.
Satsuma police responded to work the crash. By around 7:30 a.m., traffic in the area had come to a standstill as emergency crews cleared the scene. Conditions began to improve roughly twenty minutes later, with vehicles slowly moving past the wreckage by 7:50 a.m.
A second, unrelated accident complicated the morning commute for drivers using the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge to reach Mobile. A semi-truck flipped onto its side near the intersection of Bay Bridge Road and Telegraph Road, blocking both westbound lanes of travel. Images circulated by local traffic accounts showed the overturned tractor-trailer resting on its side along the roadway.
The Alabama Department of Transportation’s traffic monitoring system reflected the delays as they developed, and local traffic-watch accounts on social media provided real-time updates to help drivers avoid the worst of the backups. No information was immediately available on injuries connected to either incident, and it was not clear how long cleanup and recovery operations took at either site.
About the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge
The Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that carries U.S. 90 and U.S. 98 Truck across the Mobile River between the mainland and Blakeley Island. It opened in 1991, replacing the older Cochrane Bridge, a vertical-lift span, and its name also recognizes Africatown, the historic community where the bridge’s western approach was built.
