Interstate 57 at the Dix overpass was closed Tuesday for several hours as crews worked to cleanup from a chain-reaction crash between four semi-trucks in a construction area.

Illinois State Police reopened I-57 around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with the crash first being reported around 11:30 a.m. Southbound traffic on the interstate came to a standstill as the cleanup was being conducted and at times was backed up as far north as the Salem exit.

It appears three of the southbound trucks had slowed for construction at the Dix-Irvington Road overpass but a fourth truck was did not slow and crashed into the rear of the first truck pushing it into another truck, which was subsequently pushed into another.

While initial reports indicated possible entrapment in one of the trucks, it was quickly learned all four drivers were out of their rigs and had escaped injury.

Despite two of the trucks being able to drive away from the scene, construction in the area hampered efforts to remove the two other semis and debris from the area.

One of those two trucks was reportedly hauling kitty litter that had to be unloaded due to the amount of damage to the trailer.

A secondary crash at northbound mile marker 98 four miles south of Dix reportedly resulted in the driver being transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of injuries.  

Vehicles being diverted off the Interstate at Route 161 resulted in heavy southbound traffic on Route 161 and Route 37.