Two incidents cause big backups on I-94 Tuesday morning

MILWAUKEE/RACINE COS. (WITI) -- If you drove on I-94 near the Milwaukee-Racine County line on Tuesday morning, January 21st -- there's a good chance you were stuck in traffic! Two incidents in a short amount of time led to long backups and lots of headaches.

Whether coming from the north or south, drivers on I-94 dealt with long backups Tuesday morning as a result of two separate incidents over a span of about seven miles.

"There were lots of ambulances but there was really nothing on the road -- didn't look like it was a big crash or whatever," Mary Fischer said.

Fischer was stuck in traffic due to a wreck just south of College Avenue.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office says the incident involved a semi-cab with a roller bed and two other vehicles.

The truck ended up lodged on the concrete median wall.

The Sheriff's Office says there were no serious injuries, but the incident required the closure of two southbound lanes and one northbound lane and the cleanup of spilled diesel fuel.

"Then it opened up and I didn't even notice this side was backed up until I got off to get gas," Fischer said.

The second backup was caused by a semi tractor that caught fire on the shoulder near Seven Mile Road.

"Seems like it all of a sudden stopped, backed up and everyone just went about five miles an hour for about 45 minutes or so," Michael Sokolowski said.

The Racine County Sheriff's Office says officials decided to close all lanes of I-94 northbound, fearing a possible explosion.

Fortunately, the Raymond Fire Department was able to put out the fire and no one was injured.

By noon, all of the lanes had reopened.

"I would like to get on and go home!" Sokolowski said.

Racine County officials says the semi that caught fire was already on its way to the shop when the driver noticed it was losing power.

We're told the truck ran on natural gas, though there's no word on what actually caused the fire.