Skyway Bridge lanes reopen after crashes

TIERRA VERDE (FOX 13) - The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating two separate crashes that blocked traffic on both the northbound and southbound lanes of the Skyway Bridge Tuesday morning. 

The first accident happened at 11 a.m. at the 11 mile marker on the Pinellas County side of the bridge. FHP says a Mack dump truck driven by Juan Antonio Rico of St. Petersburg was headed northbound in the outside lane.

A Ford F150 had a flat tire and was parked on the outside shoulder. FHP says Rico drove into the emergency lane and hit the F150. The dump truck overturned and spilled a load of dirt on the bridge, causing the northbound lanes to be closed until 2:15 p.m.

Rico was ticketed for careless driving. He suffered minor injuries.

The second happened 10 minutes after the first, in the southbound lanes of the Sykway at the 11 mile marker.

FHP says Meredith J. Killingsworth of Palmetto, was driving a Honda Civic southbound on the bridge. She apparently didn’t notice traffic stopping ahead and she hit the back of a Honda CRV in front of her, pushing the CRV into the outside barrier wall before it overturned.

Both scenes are now cleaned up, but motorists should expect lingering delays as the congestion clears out.