Gig Harbor Patch Users Describe Accident Tuesday Evening On Highway 16

A crash in Gig Harbor that backed up traffic all the way past the Tacoma Narrows Bridge during the Tuesday evening commute left many drivers scratching their heads as to why they were stopped.

Gig Harbor Patch users and followers of our Facebook page began posting about the accident shortly before 4 p.m.

Users said the crash seemed to affect traffic in all directions.

"What's going on Hwy 16 from Narrows to Wollochet???" user Gig Harbor Gal Davis wrote. "I have been searching for answer via www.wsdot.wa.gov and found nada."

"What's going on up on the freeway? Downtown traffic is crazy," user Venture72 added.

I put the question out to our Facebook users to see if they had been caught in the mess. User Allison shared this picture from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

But one person - Facebook user Angela - said she actually saw the accident the moment it happened.

"It happened at 3:30. I watched it happen in my rear-view mirror and stopped and called 911," she wrote. "Three cars seriously crashed. Traffic hit the brakes hard. A woman was rear ended hard in the fast lane, spinning her into the slow lane, then she was T-boned in the passenger door by a large truck."

"I thought I was going to get hit,"  she added, "the way the traffic hit the brakes, just as I checked my mirror, I saw the whole thing happen in a blink of an eye. I stayed until State Police showed up."

"Everyone should be thankful it wasn't them, instead of complaining, just saying," Angela wrote.