A semitruck crossed the grass median on I-75's Alligator Alley Thursday morning and slammed into a concrete truck heading the opposite direction, injuring both drivers and shutting down part of the interstate in Collier County for hours. Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened around 9:20 a.m. near mile marker 61, about 19 miles south of State Road 29.
According to Gulf Coast News, the first vehicle was a 2024 Peterbilt semitruck driven by a 59-year-old man from Ocala, who troopers said was heading north at the time. The second vehicle was a 2026 Western Star concrete truck driven by a 62-year-old Cape Coral man traveling south. Troopers told the outlet the Ocala man lost control of his semitruck, which then left the roadway, crossed the grass median and entered the southbound lanes directly into the path of the concrete truck.
How the Trucks Collided
The front of the semitruck struck the right side of the concrete truck, according to the same report. The impact sent the semitruck onto the left shoulder, where it hit a guardrail, while the concrete truck also came to rest on that shoulder and became disabled. FHP said the Ocala driver suffered a serious injury, while the Cape Coral driver sustained a non-incapacitating injury.
A separate report from WGCU placed the crash at mile marker 63 rather than mile marker 61, and described the vehicles as a semi-cement truck and a semi-truck tanker on southbound I-75 — details that diverge from the Gulf Coast News account. WGCU also reported that at least one passenger vehicle was involved, a detail not included in the more detailed account of the two commercial trucks, and said a life flight helicopter was called in to transport injured parties.
Hours of Gridlock on the Alley
The wreck choked traffic in both directions for much of the day. WGCU reported that recovery crews blocked most of the southbound lanes while some vehicles trickled through on the shoulder, with backups stretching for miles. Yahoo News put the delays at roughly two miles in each direction and noted that the extent and number of injuries remained unknown at the time of its report.
Yahoo also reported that this crash was one of four separate wrecks across a four-mile stretch of I-75 within a span of just four hours Thursday, underscoring how chaotic the morning became on the remote interstate corridor. All lanes along the crash site eventually reopened by 3:30 p.m., according to Gulf Coast News. Troopers said the crash remains under investigation.
