Highway 16 shut down during Monday's afternoon commute due to dump truck rollover

Two people were taken to nearby hospitals after a crash on Highway 16 in Port Orchard that blocked the highway Monday afternoon for several hours.

A dump truck with a trailer full of dirt, driven by a 55-year-old man, initially hit another car traveling east and then struck the median barrier. The truck rolled over just before the Sedgwick Road exit, according to Washington State Patrol, and the trailer flipped over the median. The second car, driven by a 40-year-old Seattle woman, stopped near the exit on the right shoulder.

The crash was caused by a tire going out, according to WSP Trooper Katherine Weatherwax, though an investigation is still ongoing and indicated charges for the driver may be possible. Dirt and rocks spilled across the highway in both directions. The trailer was moved out of the way about an hour after the 3 p.m. crash to allow traffic to begin moving again.

The truck's driver was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, and the dump truck was totaled. The driver of the second vehicle, a 2017 Lexus RX, was taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, and the vehicle had some damage, according to WSP.

Drivers initially were diverted at the Tremont Street exit to leave the highway and avoid the closure to the eastbound lane, WSP reported. By 4 p.m. troopers were allowing some vehicles to pass on the shoulder to ease the congestion that backed up past Gorst and into Port Orchard on Highway 166, as drivers attempted to navigate around the closure.

The dump truck reportedly struck a jersey barrier, which have been in place while WSDOT completes a culvert replacement project with a new bridge to improve fish passage on Blackjack Creek. Work on the eastbound span is complete and the westbound span is anticipated to finish later this year.