WASHINGTON COUNTY — A fatal Friday afternoon crash on Interstate 64 in Washington County has Illinois State Police investigating the circumstances that led to the death of a Mt. Vernon man, and resulted in a stretch of interstate being closed for hours.

According to ISP, around noon Friday, a 45-year-old Mt. Vernon man was traveling east on I-64 when near the 51.5 mile marker his 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup ran off the left side of the roadway and crashed into a guard rail. The Toyota then came back onto the roadway, crossed over both lanes of traffic and side-swiped a concrete bridge, eventually coming to a stop in the middle of the eastbound lanes.

At that point, a freightliner semi being driven by 62-year-old Santiago A. Reyes, of Washington, saw the Toyota in the middle of the eastbound lanes too late, and was unable to stop in time to avoid crashing into the pickup truck. The frieghtliner crashed into the driver’s side of the Toyota.

The Washington County Coroner’s Office pronounced the Mt. Vernon man dead at the scene. His name is being withheld pending the notification of family.

Reyes was uninjured.

The traffic crash shut down the interstate for nearly 6 hours.

The crash remains under investigation.