A pedestrian was killed Thursday evening after being struck by multiple vehicles while running across Route 9 in Woodbridge, police said. The person was hit on the southbound side of the highway near King Georges Road at 5:31 p.m., and emergency personnel pronounced them dead at the scene.
Capt. Brian Murphy confirmed the time and location of the crash, according to NJ.com. Route 9 south was closed for two hours as police investigated the scene, snarling traffic along the busy Middlesex County corridor during the evening commute.
As of Friday, the pedestrian's identification remained pending, the captain said. No further details about the vehicles involved or the circumstances that led the pedestrian to cross the highway have been released.
A Highway With a Recent History of Fatal Crossings
The Woodbridge death adds to a string of recent pedestrian fatalities on major New Jersey roadways. Less than a month earlier, on Oct. 15, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer while attempting to cross Route 9 in Elizabeth, the same numbered highway roughly 20 miles to the north. A witness told police the man was crossing the highway when the truck struck him, according to city spokesperson Ruby Contreras, as reported by Daily Voice. That crash remained under investigation.
Earlier in October, a separate pedestrian crash on Route 22 in Green Brook left another person dead. Police responded to that scene at 8:52 p.m. on Oct. 11, and the pedestrian was pronounced dead the following day after being taken to a trauma center, per MyCentralJersey. In that case, officials had not released the identities of either the pedestrian or the driver, and the investigation remained active pending findings from a reconstruction team and the results of a post-mortem examination.
What Remains Unknown
None of the three cases has resulted in a public determination of cause, and police in Woodbridge have not said how many vehicles struck the pedestrian or released any information about the drivers involved. The pedestrian's name, age, and the reason they were crossing Route 9 have not been disclosed.
