Up to five vehicles collided on the southbound highway at East 77th Street at around 6:20 a.m. Monday.
Video from NewsCopter 7 showed a car in the left lane fully engulfed in flames.
Another car with apparent front-end damage was located just behind it.
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Firefighters were on the scene, working to control the flames from the northbound lanes.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
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The northbound lanes were shut down during the firefighting effort, and only one lane was getting by the crash on the southbound side.
An investigation is underway into what caused the crash.
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