A motorist died this evening after the car he was driving struck the rear end of a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder of the northbound lane of Interstate 95.
The crash, according to Trooper J.D. Warren of the state Highway Patrol, occurred near the 170 mile marker in the Roanoke Rapids area shortly after 6:15 p.m.
It was not immediately clear why the rig was parked on the side of the highway, but Warren said a witness observed the victim’s car veer off the shoulder of the road and strike the truck’s rear.
The victim, whose name is not being released until notification of next of kin, died at the scene. He was the only occupant of the vehicle.
The crash tied up northbound traffic on the interstate for about an hour-and-half, Warren said.