Fatal Crash Closes SE Lafayette Highway

Anyone who needs to travel between Lafayette and McMinnville should use an alternate route.

Salem-News.com

(MCMINNVILLE, Ore.) - Oregon State Police are on the scene of a fatal traffic crash on SE Lafayette Highway near SE Stockoff Road, southeast of McMinnville.

Police say preliminary information is that a northbound passenger car with a female operator lost control on an icy bridge and spun into the southbound lane where it collided with a sport utility vehicle with four occupants.

The male operator of the southbound sport utility vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene, and three other occupants were transported to Willamette Valley Medical Center with unknown injuries. The female driver of the northbound vehicle was critically injured.

The highway is still closed in both directions for an unknown period police say, and roadways are reported to be extremely icy in the area.

The Highway is closed in both directions for an unknown period of time. The names of the people involved in the crash were not yet available.

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Anyone who needs to travel between Lafayette and McMinnville should use an alternate route.

The tragic details should serve as a reminder that roads are becoming icy in Oregon's Willamette Valley and especially in the mountains passes. Fog can also make driving treacherous.