LYNNWOOD — An Auburn woman suffered serious injuries early Wednesday morning when her van slammed into a concrete barrier while traveling at an estimated 100 mph along I-5, the Washington State Patrol reported.
The woman, 59, was taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Troopers said she suffered two broken legs, broken ribs and cuts to her face.
The crash occurred shortly after 1:10 a.m.
A trooper recorded her speed at 110 mph moments before she left the freeway northbound using a bus transit only exit ramp.
“It was not a pursuit,” trooper Travis Shearer said.
The transit-only lane leads to a park-and-ride lot at Ash Way off 164th Street near Lynnwood.
The 1999 Plymouth Voyager didn’t make it that far.
At the top of the ramp, the van struck the concrete barrier head on, Shearer said.
“She doesn’t drop very much speed at all,” Shearer said. “She brakes very late. The guesstimate is she hit the barrier at 100 mph.”
The van flipped over twice and was stopped by a second barrier. Otherwise, it likely would have plunged over an I-5 overpass into the grassy median below, Shearer said.
Based on initial information, troopers don’t believe either alcohol or drugs likely were factors in the crash.
An airbag in the van and the second concrete barrier prevented the outcome from being much worse, Shearer said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldent.com.
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