FARGO (AP) -A three-vehicle crash that killed an 8-year-old girl and injured her sister happened as a Fargo street crew was on its way to fix a rut blamed for two earlier crashes in the area, authorities say.

Police Sgt. Jeff Skuza said authorities are not sure whether the rut caused Wednesday's fatal crash, but road conditions are one of the factors under investigation. Fargo Public Works Operations Manager Al Weigel said a crew was halfway to the area when the crash happened.

Amanda Leininger of Fargo died at about 2 p.m., Wednesday at a Fargo hospital, Skuza said.

Her sister, Jessica, 15, was released from the hospital Thursday. Jessica Leininger was driving the car that was struck by oncoming traffic at about 7:50 a.m. Wednesday.

The occupants of the other two vehicles, a minivan and a sport utility vehicle, were not injured.

It was the third accident in as many days in the area.

After Monday's crash, police notified the city's street department of the rut where the southbound lane meets the shoulder, Skuza said.

In that incident, 16-year-old Collin Schott was driving to Fargo Shanley High School at about 7:45 a.m. when his tires got caught in the rut.

"I guess I got scared, and then I tried to move back onto the road, but then I had a hard time," Schott said. "That caused me to turn harder, and that kind of caused me to spin out as I was trying to get out of the rut."

Schott's car was totaled when struck by northbound traffic, but he was not hurt. He said the snowy and slippery road conditions were factors in the crash.

Another car's front tire got caught in the rut at about 6:50 a.m. Tuesday, Skuza said. The driver overcorrected, causing the vehicle to go into the opposite ditch and hit a bike path sign. She also was not injured.

Fargo Public Works Operations Manager Al Weigel said his office got an e-mail midday Tuesday about the crash that morning, and his staff inspected the rut.

"We decided that the best fix for that would be to get our mill out of cold storage and actually re-mill that shoulder up and add some material and pack it back in," he said. The mill machine was brought inside to warm up and crews planned to repair the rut after rush hour Wednesday morning, Weigel said.

"Our whole crew was halfway to that area when that accident happened," he said.

Debbie Helbling said she called city officials Monday, Tuesday and early Wednesday, warning that someone would be seriously injured if the rut was not fixed. Her SUV tires got caught Monday, but she was able to steer her way out of it, she said.

Weigel said the rut was about the width of a tire and likely was formed by a vehicle's tires slipping off the edge of the paved southbound lane and onto the gravel shoulder sometime this fall, before the ground froze.