A section of the Long Island Expressway reopened in both directions Tuesday morning, hours after a car accident seriously injured at least one person and shutdown a stretch of the heavily-trafficked thoroughfare for much of the night, officials said.
Details about the accident are still unclear, but it appears someone on the roadway was hit after he or she got out of a vehicle. There are reports that the person was killed after being thrown into the air and landing on the pavement.
Nassau County Police said two vehicles crashed on the Expressway around 11 p.m. Monday near Powells Lane in Old Westbury. The number of injuries or the severity of those injuries wasn't immediately disclosed.
Both the eastbound and westbound lanes of the Expressway were closed between exits 40 and 39 — Jericho Turnpike and Glen Cove Road — for hours earlier Tuesday morning as detectives investigated.
The eastbound lanes reopened around 3:30 a.m., but the westbound lanes remained closed for nearly two hours. The wrecked vehicles were cleared shortly after 5 a.m. and westbound traffic began moving again at about 5:15 a.m.
Police cars and flares had lined the rainy roadway much of the early morning, forcing westbound drivers off the Expressway and onto a nearby service road. Tractor trailers and other vehicles were seen slowly making their way through the detour, bumper-to-bumper traffic snaking behind them.
