(RUTHERFORD COUNTY) Two fatal crashes occurred around 11:00 o'clock late Wednesday night (7/24/2019) and shut down traffic in both directions of I-24 near mile marker 71. The Tennessee Highway Patrol told NewsRadio WGNS that I-24 was later re-opened in both directions shortly after the preliminary investigation and crashes were cleared.

In one accident, a female pedestrian was hit by a tractor trailer truck near mile marker 71 in the westbound lane (toward Nashville). That's between I-840 and Almaville Road on I-24. Authorities believe the woman stepped into the path of an oncoming big rig. The deceased woman was identified as 64-year-old Martha Caldwell of Murfreesboro.

The second crash occurred in the eastbound lane of I-24 (toward Chattanooga) near Sam Ridley Parkway in Smyrna. The Highway Patrol reports that a driver crashed into a T-DOT emergency response truck. The person inside that car died at the scene, but their identity has not yet been released. Another person was airlifted from that crash and taken to a trauma center in Nashville.

Although the crash involving the T-DOT truck was about 5-miles from where the pedestrian was killed by the trailer truck, it is believed that the slow moving east bound traffic caused the second crash.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is the lead responder to fatal accidents of this type. However, units from the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office, Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services, Rutherford County Fire Rescue, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue, along with the Almaville Volunteer Fire Rescue responded to this multi-crash site that shut-down all travel on I-24 for several hours.