Pair of crashes shut down Interstate 80 near Utica

A pair of traffic crashes Tuesday afternoon shutdown the eastbound lane of Interstate 80 between the Utica and Ottawa exits. According to Illinois State Police Trooper Craig Graham, the first crash happened just after 2 o’clock when a semi struck another disabled semi that was stopped on the shoulder of I-80 at milepost 84. That caused eastbound traffic to backup, resulting in another crash involving an additional semi and several cars at milepost 83. One of those injured was life-flighted from the scene of the crash; one was taken to an Ottawa hospital and one to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru. Traffic was backed up for several miles and IDOT re-routed vehicles to Route 6 while emergency officials tended to the scene. The names of those involved in the crashes have not been released.