PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Traffic was diverted for hours Thursday morning after a serious two-vehicle crash on Northlake Boulevard at Bay Hill Drive near Palm Beach Gardens.
Palm Beach Gardens police turned westbound traffic around at the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and Ibis Boulevard, about a mile from the wreck.
The crash involving a truck and a car occurred at about 6:30 a.m. and closed all lanes for about six hours.
West Palm Beach Fire Rescue said multiple people were trapped in the cars. Emergency crews were able to get them out and they were flown to St. Mary's Medical Center.
For commuters, the traffic posed a huge headache and points to a bigger problem of safety.
Piotr Majewski was one of the impacted drivers. He owns his own construction company and said this is not the first time he's had to miss work because of a traffic jam like this.
"It's basically affecting me this way. Like, OK, I can skip work one day, whatever, but if that happens often it affects all of us. Because I have employees. So if I'm not working, they're not working," Piotr Majewski said.
Majewski said his wife, Stacy, was also stuck in this traffic. A commute that normally takes less than 30 minutes took her a couple of hours Thursday.
"Normally a 20-minute commute was two hours today," Stacy Majewski said. "Today was horrible."
The Majewskis feel these traffic jams are partly due to the growth of the area and feels more needs to be done to alleviate the influx of traffic.
"I know that the increase in traffic is only going to get worse because of those new communities," Stacy Majewski said. "I don't know what is going to happen. I mean it's only two lanes right now — Northlake on either side."
Police have not said released information on how many people were hurt in the crash.