Cops ID LIE tractor-trailer crash victim

Police identified the driver who died when he was hit by a tractor trailer on the Long Island Expressway in Melville as Victor Andrad, 48, of Brentwood.

The Friday morning accident, which closed all westbound lanes at the Nassau-Suffolk border for about five hours, caused a massive traffic jam that stretched eastward for miles and clogged side roads and Route 110 in Melville.

Andrad was driving west in a Lincoln Town Car at 3:32 a.m. when the car hit a guardrail near Exit 48 in Melville.

When Andrad exited his car, he walked into a traffic lane where a tractor trailer was approaching, police said.

The truck driver swerved to avoid hitting the man, but the trailer portion of the truck did not follow the cab fast enough and struck Andrad, according to police.

During the crash investigation, westbound traffic was diverted onto the north service road, snarling traffic. Traffic on Route 110, already bogged down by road construction, also was congested with spillover from the LIE.

The crash site was not far from where a fatal tanker crash occurred on the eastbound roadway in late January.