Workers Leave Gap in Freeway; 3 Cars Plunge, 2 People Killed

Three cars plunged 20 feet through a missing segment of freeway into a ravine in early Sunday darkness, killing two people and injuring three others in a construction zone that a witness said had no barricades.

The accidents on Interstate 235 west of Wichita occurred within 2 1/2 hours on the two southbound lanes, which had been closed while a section was removed so a culvert could be built in the sandy ravine below. The two northbound lanes remained open, with southbound traffic routed onto one of them.

‘It’s Real Confusing’

“It’s not marked very well as I understand,” Kansas Highway Patrol dispatcher Jo Peterson said. “I understand it’s real confusing.”

Kansas Transportation Secretary Horace Edwards in Topeka sent a supervisor and construction engineer to the site. One of their concerns apparently was to determine if barricades or warning signs had been removed.

Two teen-agers in the first vehicle walked to a service station to call for a ride to the hospital. The mother of one said no one stopped to help them, although they were covered with blood. They suffered only cuts and bruises.

The mother said: “The officer told them they were probably going 40 miles an hour when they went down there.”

The two who died were in the second car to fall. The third driver was pinned in his vehicle and later taken to a hospital, which refused to disclose his condition.