GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — A semi tractor-trailer carrying a load of steel pipes overturned Tuesday evening on an elevated section of Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, spilling part of the load onto three other vehicles in the lanes below. Two motorists were killed.
The crash closed all four lanes of the interstate for much of the night; the westbound lanes were the last to open — shortly after 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The Colorado State Patrol was
notified of the crash at 7:49 p.m. Tuesday. A semi-truck pulling a trailer loaded with nine, 38-foot steel pipes, each 30 inches in diameter, tipped on its side while negotiating a curve in the westbound lanes, according to Trooper Gilbert Mares, public information officer for the state patrol in Denver. Four of the sections of pipe rolled off the trailer and down onto the lower, eastbound lanes, landing on three vehicles — another semi tractor-trailer, a Subara Legacy and a Toyota Tacoma.
The driver of the eastbound semi and a 21-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Tacoma were both killed, according to Mares.
Their names are being withheld until next of kin are notified.
The
driver of the overturned truck, Kenneth K. Muchiri, 55, of Houston, Texas, sustained moderate injuries and was taken to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, according to Mares.
Jonathan
Middlebrooks, 29, of Vancouver, Wash., the driver of the Tacoma, also suffered moderate injuries and was transported to Valley View, the trooper said.
The driver of the Subaru, Randy L. Behr, 23, of Avon, was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation, but alcohol and drug use are not suspected to be factors in the accident, Mares said.
The crash closed all four lanes of the interstate for much of the night; the westbound lanes were the last to open — shortly after 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The Colorado State Patrol was
notified of the crash at 7:49 p.m. Tuesday. A semi-truck pulling a trailer loaded with nine, 38-foot steel pipes, each 30 inches in diameter, tipped on its side while negotiating a curve in the westbound lanes, according to Trooper Gilbert Mares, public information officer for the state patrol in Denver. Four of the sections of pipe rolled off the trailer and down onto the lower, eastbound lanes, landing on three vehicles — another semi tractor-trailer, a Subara Legacy and a Toyota Tacoma.
The driver of the eastbound semi and a 21-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Tacoma were both killed, according to Mares.
Their names are being withheld until next of kin are notified.
The
driver of the overturned truck, Kenneth K. Muchiri, 55, of Houston, Texas, sustained moderate injuries and was taken to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, according to Mares.
Jonathan
Middlebrooks, 29, of Vancouver, Wash., the driver of the Tacoma, also suffered moderate injuries and was transported to Valley View, the trooper said.
The driver of the Subaru, Randy L. Behr, 23, of Avon, was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation, but alcohol and drug use are not suspected to be factors in the accident, Mares said.
