Semi-car crash at Mile 186 partially closes Parks Highway for more than five hours

A semi-truck and a car collided at 9:21 pm Friday at Mile 186 of the Parks Highway, and a second truck jackknifed into the ditch trying to avoid the wreck, Alaska State Troopers said. The highway was partially closed for more than five hours while crews recovered the vehicles.

Everyone involved declined medical attention at the scene, according to the trooper dispatch posted early Saturday.

The semi-truck in the collision, operated by Big Dreams, came to rest partially blocking the road. The second truck, operated by Two Rivers, jackknifed and went into the ditch while trying to avoid the first collision. It also partially blocked the highway.

Troopers used the dispatch to remind commercial drivers that long combination vehicles, known as doubles, must stop operating during inclement weather. The dispatch did not say whether either truck was a double, and it did not describe conditions at the time of the crash.

The rule comes from state commercial vehicle regulations, which require long combination vehicles to stop running in inclement weather. The regulations count fog, rain or snow that cuts visibility below 1,000 feet, strong wind or an icy road as inclement weather.

State rules list the Parks Highway between the Glenn Highway junction and Fairbanks as a route for some long combinations, including a truck pulling one cargo-carrying vehicle with a combined length of up to 90 feet.

The crash came less than three weeks after an overturned commercial truck closed the Parks Highway in both directions at Milepost 183, about three miles south, early on Oct. 13, Alaska News reported that day.