Crash closes New Seward Hwy southbound at Rabbit Creek Rd

Two people were killed Wednesday morning when a multi-vehicle crash sent cars into the water at Potter Marsh, closing the Seward Highway at the southern edge of Anchorage for most of the day.

The Anchorage Police Department said officers responded to the collision at about 9 a.m. on July 1, where the highway runs along the marsh between the Rabbit Creek Rifle Range and Potter Valley Road. Three vehicles were involved, and all of them came to rest at least partially submerged in the water. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene. A third was taken to a hospital with injuries the department described as not life-threatening.

What caused the crash is still under investigation. The department's Major Collision Investigation Unit — the team APD assigns to fatal and serious wrecks — worked the scene through the day, and police said the identities of those who died will be released only after their next of kin have been notified.

That investigation, and the work of pulling the vehicles from the marsh, kept the highway closed for hours. Southbound drivers were routed onto the Old Seward Highway, and the closure that traffic alerts were still flagging into the evening was the same morning crash, not a new one. It was well after dark before the corridor returned to normal.

The stretch where it happened is already under the state's eye. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has been studying safety and traffic improvements along the Seward Highway from Rabbit Creek south toward Bird Flats — the "Safer Seward Highway" project — releasing a draft environmental assessment late last year and holding public hearings in Anchorage, Girdwood and Indian in January. The two-lane highway along Turnagain Arm carries heavy commuter and visitor traffic with few places to pass or pull off.

APD asked anyone who saw the crash, or who has dashcam or other footage from the area, to contact its dispatch line at 907-786-8900.