Update: Highway 17 reopens 6 hours after semi scatters crushed cars

Highway 17 reopened Thursday afternoon nearly six hours after a semi truck carrying crushed cars lost control and closed both lanes of the highway.

State transportation workers finished fixing the guardrail and opened the road shortly before 3:30 p.m. about nine miles south of Connell.

The Wenatchee truck driver, Bruce M. Whiteaker, 60, was driving too fast as he headed south on the two-lane highway shortly before 9 a.m., the Washington State Patrol said.

He swerved into the northbound lane and hit the concrete barrier. The crash scattered his load of flattened cars.

Whiteaker was treated at Lourdes Medical Center and was going to be cited with negligent driving, said the WSP.

This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 11:36 AM.