Victim in early morning I-220 crash idetified; highway will reopen around 5 p.m.
By: Nancy Cook
Updated: December 28, 2010
A Plain Dealing woman is dead after she was hit this morning by an 18-wheeler on the westbound side of the I-220 bridge over the Red River, about a quarter mile from the Texarkana exit.
Clara Neal, 39, of Plain Dealing, stopped on the bridge just before 6 a.m. to assess damage to her car after she was involved in a single-vehicle accident.
Caddo Parish deputies said Neal was traveling west in the inside lane when she lost control of her vehicle, crossed over to the outside lane, and hit the bridge.
After the accident, Neal's car was partially obstructing oncoming traffic, so she got out and began flagging traffic around the crash site. She was standing in the westbound lane when she was hit by an oncoming 18-wheeler.
The rear tires of the 18-wheeler's trailer hit the back of Neal's car, which turned the 18-wheeler on its side and scattered plywood across the westbound lanes.
The westbound lanes were closed all day, but the Caddo Parish Sheriff's office said the Interstate should be opened around 5 p.m.
Several of Neal's family members who were traveling in a separate car on I-220 passed by the initial accident, and had stopped to help just before Neal was hit by the tractor-trailer rig.
The accident remains under investigation by the Caddo Sheriff's Traffic Safety Unit.
