Alexandria (web|news), Va. - A young Burke woman was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer on the outer loop of the beltway Thursday morning.

21-year-old Ryan K. Monahan of Burke was killed in the accident on the outer loop of the beltway, just north of Van Dorn Street in Alexandria around 2:45 a.m.

She apparently was traveling east on I-495 in her 2005 Toyota Corolla when she tried to shift from the center lane to the left lane, too close to the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer. The driver of the truck swerved in an attempt to avoid the sedan, but was unable to prevent the two vehicles from colliding.

Monahan died at the scene of the crash. She was not wearing a seat belt. The truck driver was not hurt.

At Monahan's home on Sunset Woods Court, her mother would not talk on camera but described her daughter as "sweetest girl with the biggest heart" and said she had no idea where her daughter was going at that hour of the morning.

The wreck and subsequent investigation left early morning traffic at a standstill and beltway drivers once again shaking their heads at the unfortunate familiarity of it all.

Driver Kisha Brown lamented, "My condolences go out. I wish that never even happened but truck drivers are just as crazy as drivers who drive cars."

Dave Phillips, another driver on the beltway this morning, said, "I just drove 800 miles yesterday back from Kentucky and the worst part of the drive is when you get around Manassas, [Interstate] 66 and then come in and go around the beltway." 

Even though the crash happened overnight, authorities knew it would have a substantial impact on the morning rush hour, so they had it cleaned up and documented within four hours to get traffic moving again.