UPDATE: The accident scene is clear, traffic is moving normally again.
One person is dead after a two-vehicle crash early this morning on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New City.
The crash closed the northbound lanes of the parkway in the New City area for more than five hours during the morning rush. State police said excessive speed appears to be the cause of the fatal crash.
The accident took place just north of the Exit 11 interchange at about 4:30 a.m., according to State Police based in Haverstraw. A minivan struck the rear of an Orange and Rockland Utilities bucket truck that was traveling on the parkway.
Police said the crash did extensive damage to the passenger side of the minivan, which can to rest on the center median of the parkway. Police said a 38-year-old Pomona man, who was the only person in the minivan, was killed in the crash.
The Pomona man was declared dead at the scene of the crash. Police said two O&R workers in the bucket truck were not injured.
Police said the minivan was moving at a high rate of speed and the driver apparently did not have time to react as he approached the moving O&R truck.
Emergency crews from the New City Fire Department, Rockland Paramedics and the Rockland County Medical Examiner's Office were at the crash scene.
The accident, rescue efforts, clean up and investigation closed the northbound lanes of the parkway until 9 a.m., when one lane of traffic was opened. Police said both northbound lanes were open by 10 a.m.
