A Swedesboro woman was hospitalized Monday afternoon after her Honda Accord slammed into a concrete abutment in Lane 6 of the Delaware Memorial Bridge toll plaza, flipping the car and setting it ablaze. The crash happened at approximately 3 p.m. on October 12, shutting down more than half the toll lanes and snarling the commute for drivers crossing between New Jersey and Delaware.
According to Gloucester Township Patch, the single-vehicle wreck occurred when the Accord struck the barrier directly in front of the toll booth on the bridge's southbound approach into Delaware. The Courier-Post reports the driver was identified only as a Swedesboro resident, and that the crash closed multiple lanes at the plaza.
Getting her out of the burning vehicle took a coordinated, cross-border push. In an official statement released Tuesday, the Delaware River and Bay Authority said emergency crews from Deepwater Fire Co., Minquadale Fire Co., Holloway Terrace Fire Co., and New Castle County Paramedics all responded to extricate the driver and put out the fire — a response spanning both New Jersey and Delaware fire jurisdictions.
Driver Taken to Christiana Hospital
Once freed, the injured woman was rushed to Christiana Hospital in New Castle County, Delaware, for treatment, the station's report notes. Christiana operates the region's Level I trauma center, making it the standard destination for serious crash injuries in northern Delaware.
Per the same account, law enforcement closed more than half of the toll plaza's lanes for roughly two hours while the DRBA Police Department's accident reconstruction team worked the scene and crews cleaned up the aftermath. The plaza fully reopened around 5 p.m., after a commute disruption that rippled across Interstate 295.
A Vital, Tolled Crossing Under Pressure
The timing compounded an already rough stretch for drivers in the area. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority's travel advisories flagged right-lane closures in both directions near Interchange 1 in Carneys Point Township, work that is scheduled to continue through October 29 and feeds directly into the bridge's approach.
The Delaware Memorial Bridge is a tolled crossing between New Jersey and Delaware.
Those tolls aren't cheap these days. As New Jersey 101.5 reported in September 2024, passenger vehicles paid $5 in cash or $4.75 with Delaware or New Jersey E-ZPass, with the revenue funding a $550 million, five-year capital improvement program.
Echoes of Past Bridge Crashes
CBS News reported a 2021 crash that killed two people.
Toll booth collisions like this one have drawn increasing scrutiny from federal regulators. Hoodline previously reported on NTSB's push to eliminate cash toll lanes after the agency flagged the heightened risk of vehicles striking concrete abutments during merging maneuvers at physical toll plazas. The NTSB's recommendations addressed toll-plaza design.
