Overview
- Both directions of I-49 were shut near 195th Street south of Belton on Tuesday as dark smoke rose from a fiery multi-vehicle crash captured in MoDOT images.
- Missouri State Highway Patrol says the van was traveling north in the southbound lanes near Peculiar when it struck a semi, which then hit another semi.
- Troopers confirmed the wrong-way driver died, and one truck driver sustained minor injuries and is expected to be okay.
- I-49 later reopened after investigators and crews cleared the scene, with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and state troopers continuing the investigation.
- In a separate incident Wednesday, deputies arrested two people after a vehicle with stolen plates fled and stopped in the I-49 median south of Highway J, briefly closing one northbound lane before it fully reopened.