A crew works to remove accident debris from northbound Interstate 83. (Bill Kalina photo)

A crash involving a stopped PennDOT truck closed a portion of Interstate 83 northbound in the Shrewsbury area for about three hours on Tuesday and injured a state worker.

State police closed the northbound lanes between the Shrewsbury and Glen Rock exits; traffic was detoured around the area, police said.

The crash happened about 9:30 a.m., two-tenths of a mile north of Exit 4 when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a state Department of Transportation truck, police said.

PennDOT workers were there doing roadway patching, according to PennDOT.

Crews had closed the right lane of northbound I-83 for that work, police said. The PennDOT truck was parked in the closed portion of the right lane, police said.

The tractor-trailer driver,

Interstate 83 northbound was closed for about three hours between the Shrewsbury and Glen Rock exits after a tractor-trailer rear-ended a PennDOT work truck. (Courtesy of PennDOT)

The PennDOT driver, Jason R. Kachman, 49, of Lewisberry Road in Newberry Township, suffered minor injuries and was taken to York Hospital, police said; the tractor-trailer driver wasn't hurt.

Police closed the northbound lanes of the interstate to investigate and so the crash could be cleared.

An earlier two-vehicle crash in the area also added to the congestion, according to Trooper Michele Davis, a state police spokeswoman.

The lanes were reopened about 12:45 p.m., she said.

An "impact attenuator" was attached to the back of the PennDOT truck. The trailer warns approaching motorists of closed lanes, but is also designed to absorb the impact of a collision and lessen the severity of a crash, according to PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny.

This week is National Work Zone Awareness week, PennDOT district executive Mike Keiser said. He called Tuesday's crash a "teaching moment" to remind drivers to be alert for highway work zones.

-- Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.