The crashes had traffic tied up for several hours. Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the crashes, and alcohol or drugs were not suspected in either.

Shortly after 12:30 p.m., Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies responded to Interstate 40 near the Carnuel exit after a semi crashed into the hillside, sheriff's spokeswoman Erin Kinnard Thompson said.

The semi driver, Charles Wayne Scalf, 61, was westbound when he drove off the road and crashed, Kinnard Thompson said. He was trapped inside the cab, but emergency responders were able to get close enough to the victim to determine that he had died in the crash.

Scalf was from out-of-state and was believed to have been traveling to California, Kinnard Thompson said in an e-mail. Westbound lanes were closed for more than three hours while a Haz Mat crew cleaned up diesel fuel that had leaked from the rig, she said in the e-mail. Eastbound lanes remained open throughout the cleanup.

Earlier in the day, around 9 a.m., deputies responded to a three-vehicle crash in Cedar Crest, on N.M. 14 near Sangre de Cristo Drive. The crash left Grant Montgomery, 80, of Tijeras dead and a small child in the hospital, Kinnard Thompson said.

Montgomery was southbound on 14 and was trying to turn east onto Sangre de Cristo when he crashed into another vehicle.

The second vehicle then crashed into a third car that was stopped at the intersection.

Montgomery was pronounced dead at the scene, Kinnard Thompson said in an e-mail, and the child, who was a passenger in the second vehicle, was taken to an area hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

No one in the third vehicle was injured, Kinnard Thompson said.

Traffic was down to one lane in both directions for about two hours, causing a long delay for East Mountains drivers.