Delta County Sheriff's Office, Michigan State Police, Menominee County Sheriff's Office, Hannahville Tribal Police, Ford River Fire Department, Bark River Fire Department, Rampart EMS, Delta County Central Dispatch, Escanaba Public Safety and the Delta County Road Commission responded to a fatal two-car crash on June 23.

HYDE — A two-vehicle collision closed three miles of U.S. 2 and 41 for about four hours on Tuesday while emergency services responded. One driver, an elderly man from Escanaba, is dead.

Shortly after noon, a crash heard for miles around occurred in Ford River Township on the highway between Escanaba and Bark River — more specifically, directly in front of the Highland Golf Club at 3011 U.S. 2. A Subaru Outback had been struck by a Toyota RAV4.

Dozens of responders answered the call, which came in at 12:09 p.m.

Before long, both eastbound and westbound lanes of a three-mile span of the highway were closed to traffic, announced the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) at 12:33 p.m. A fire truck created a barrier at the east end to block vehicles from Escanaba, and drivers were directed towards a a 4.7-mile detour (adding about 1.7 miles to the route) to I Road, 14th Road, and M-69.

The incident scene was three-quarters of a mile from the eastern barrier.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that a westbound vehicle driven by an 81-year-old Escanaba man was stopped on the highway to make a left turn into the golf course,” read an evening statement from the Delta County Sheriff’s Office. “Another westbound vehicle driven by a 17-year-old Gladstone woman failed to stop and rear-ended the other vehicle.”

The man in the Outback “was transported to the St. Francis (Emergency Room), where he later died from his injuries,” stated the press release. “The female driver was treated for minor injuries at St. Francis Hospital.”

When the Press arrived around 1 p.m., a bumper and other wreckage lay in the roadway in front of the golf club; a few meters west, a silver Subaru Outback with a severely mangled rear end faced mostly west but crossing the yellow line; further along, a blue Toyota RAV4 also facing west was in the ditch with a crunched front end. Both vehicles bore Michigan license plates.

At this point, no drivers or passengers from the damaged automobiles remained on scene; ambulances had already come and gone.

Delta County Sheriff’s Office; Ford River Township Fire Department; Michigan State Police, including a traffic crash reconstruction unit; Menominee County Sheriff’s Office; Hannahville Tribal Police; Rampart EMS; Delta County Central Dispatch; City of Escanaba Department of Public Safety; and the Delta County Road Commission were among the responding agencies.

MDOT sent a second announcement at 4:34 p.m. that the highway had been reopened.