A 38-year-old St. Louis man is dead and a 71-year-old Crystal City woman is seriously injured after a four-vehicle crash tore through westbound Big Bend Road at Ries Road Tuesday afternoon, near Castlewood State Park in West St. Louis County.
The collision happened Tuesday afternoon, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Per FOX 2, Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that a 2007 Toyota Tacoma traveling east on Big Bend Road crossed the center line into oncoming westbound traffic and struck a 2017 Toyota Camry head-on. The impact pushed the Camry sideways into a 2021 Nissan Kicks and then into a 2003 BMW Z4, which had been traveling behind it.
The Tacoma driver was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead just before 1:30 p.m., FOX 2 reported. The Camry driver, the 71-year-old Crystal City woman, was also taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the Nissan Kicks, a 78-year-old St. Louis man, suffered minor injuries and was also hospitalized, while the BMW driver, a 76-year-old Ellisville man, was not hurt and was able to drive his car away from the scene.
Vehicles Towed From Scene
The Tacoma, Camry, and Nissan Kicks were all towed from the scene, per the same account.
A Corridor With a Documented Danger History
Big Bend Road is classified by the St. Louis County Department of Transportation as a five-lane arterial roadway carrying more than 20,000 vehicles a day, a traffic volume that has fueled years of local debate over safety along the corridor. In June 2024, the Kirkwood City Council approved a resolution asking the county to lower the speed limit on Big Bend Road to 30 mph, citing chronic speeding and recurring crashes, according to KSDK.
County traffic engineers denied that request. A St. Louis County Department of Transportation speed study recorded an 85th percentile speed of 40 mph on Big Bend Road, a figure that under standard traffic engineering policy led officials to keep the existing limits in place, according to a Trailnet report. That same Trailnet report noted that pedestrian fatalities across St. Louis County rose 228 percent over a three-year span compared to a decade earlier, a trend that has pushed advocacy groups to organize along Big Bend Road in Crestwood, Oakland, and Kirkwood.
Recent Investment Near the Crash Site
Regional planning records show local agencies had recently poured money into the immediate area. The East-West Gateway Council of Governments and the City of Ballwin allocated $205,385 for infrastructure upgrades along Ries Road between Manchester Road and Big Bend Road, covering pavement striping, curb ramps, and lighting improvements. Legal analysts at Finney Injury Law have separately noted that transition points along Ries Road, where high-speed commercial corridors meet residential feeder roads, tend to produce recurring collisions because of speed differentials and limited sight lines.
Tuesday's crash came after an earlier crash that week. Around 2 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, a semitruck struck a stalled vehicle on Interstate 270, killing a 42-year-old driver, as Hoodline previously reported.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported on the Big Bend Road crash.
