One accident led to serious injuries to a construction worker, followed by another that seriously injured a motorcyclist encountering the traffic bypassing the original accident.
The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office says the event started at 1:18 p.m. Tuesday on the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 45 just north of Wisconsin Highway 116, east of Winneconne. Within the construction zone of that section, the righthand lane is closed and traffic is restricted to the single lefthand lane.
The Sheriff says that traffic in that single lane was approaching the active construction area, and was slowing. A flatbed semi was following a Chevrolet Silverado at that time. The semi rear-ended the pickup truck, sending it into the active construction work zone area, where it then collided with a Winnebago County Highway Department employee actively working in the construction zone.
The employee had serious injuries and was flighted for treatment by ThedaStar. The Silverado driver had minor injuries, while the semi driver was unscathed.
As traffic was re-routed around the scene, and about 45 minutes after the original incident, a motorcycle driver suffered serious injuries in an accident with an SUV being detoured. A Chevy Blazer was exiting US 45 northbound at 116 and collided with a Kawasaki that was eastbound on 116. The Blazer driver was uninjured, but the Kawasaki driver was transported by ambulance with serious injuries.
Both crashes were still under investigation at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
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