Fatal accident closes westbound I-80 near Truckee

A fatal accident on Interstate 80 is causing major traffic delays.

The accident occurred about 2pm Thursday, with the road not expected to be completely open until after 10:30 tonight.

Authorities are turning back or holding all traffic at the Gold Ranch exit just east of the Nevada state line. Only local traffic is being allowed through in order to reduce the backlog of motorists in the Truckee area. Those vehicles are being detoured in stages at the Donner Lake interchange to Donner Pass Road.

Eastbound traffic is not affected.

A driver drove into the Caltrans work zone on Oct. 15, crashing into two Caltrans heavy equipment vehicles. One Caltrans worker was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and released. The identity of the driver and hometown have not been released.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report