(MT. JULIET, TN)  A deadly crash occurred around 2:30AM early Saturday (4/3/2021) morning on I-40 westbound at mile marker 226, when a Toyota Camry was traveling in the wrong direction and slammed into a tractor trailer rig that was going toward Nashville. 

Mile marker 226 is the Mt. Juliet exit.

The roadway was closed to traffic for approximately 7-hours. During that time, the Tennessee Highway Patrol was gathering evidence while crews cleared debris from the interstate. 

Tenessee Highway Patrol Sergeant John Grinder told WGNS, "After speaking with the Wilson County District Attorney, no additional information about the fatal crash on I-40 will be released at this time."

T-DOT Traffic Study

Highway Patrol records show that crashes occur on a regular basis around this section of interstate, and T-DOT did a study of the problem.

Since 2015 this stretch of roadway has had a larger than normal number of accidents, mostly when the interstate surface was wet. Therefore the Saturday morning crash did not apply, since it was caused by a driver traveling in the wrong direction.

T-DOT started looking at I-40 near mile marker 226 in Wilson County after a spike in crashes were reported, most during wet weather.

That segment was part of a $56.5-million widening of the interstate from west of mile marker 226, near state Route 171, to mile marker 232, east of state Route 109.

The T-DOT study shows that the roadway was built too flat to direct stormwater runoff, plus it does not have adequate ports for proper drainage off the interstate surface.

The traffic count for this section of interstate is around 71-thousand vehicles daily. 

Fatality

Again, around 2:30AM Saturday morning a Toyota Camry was traveling in the wrong direction of I-40 near the Mt. Juliet exit when it hit a tractor trailer rig head-on at mile marker 226. A person in the small vehicle died. The Wilson County District Attorney has asked authorities not to release additional information about this case.