Pipes spill across highway in semi crash, killing 3 in passing car, Colorado cops say
A semi-truck rolled over on a highway just outside of Denver and sent large plastic piping flying across oncoming traffic into a car, killing three people, Colorado cops said.
The major crash happened shortly after 8 a.m. on Interstate 70 near Ward Road, Wheat Ridge Police said online and in a news conference.
The highway is closed and will likely remain closed for a “substantial amount of time,” division chief Eric Kellogg told Denver7 in a news conference. The closure was still in effect as of 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The truck was traveling east when it flipped, and the pipes spilled out onto the roadway and flew over the median, causing several cars to crash on both sides of the highway, Kellogg said. A photo shows the large blue piping scattered across the highway.
CBS News Colorado’s helicopter flew over the area about half an hour after the crash and captured footage showing the wreck.
The three people who died were in a car traveling west, he said. The two other people in the car were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition.
The truck driver was injured and was also taken to the hospital, where he is now in stable condition, Kellogg said.
“The order of what happened in this series of events is still undetermined,” Wheat Ridge Police said on social media. “At some point during the traffic event, the truck lost its load, which spilled across the westbound lanes…. In total, we believe the truck and at least three other vehicles were involved in this crash.”
Officials with Wheat Ridge Police and Colorado Department of Transportation are investigating the crash, and are “in the very early stages of this active investigation,” officials said.
“Currently, westbound I-70 is shut down at Kipling St and eastbound I-70 is shut down at Highway 6,” the department said on social media, urging drivers to use alternate routes.
Several people online complained about the traffic diversion to accommodate ongoing construction along that stretch of the highway, saying the curve is too abrupt for semi-trucks to navigate and seems to cause frequent wrecks.
“I drive through this on a daily basis and it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” someone said on Facebook. “Unfortunately, today was that day. This should/could have been avoided. This is tragic!”
Several people agreed, with one even saying they weren’t surprised the crash happened there.
“I’m intimidated to go through there every time I drive that way and I’m a native and have lived in the area my whole life,” another person said.
Kellogg told reporters during the news conference that he could not yet speculate on whether the lane restrictions played a role in the crash.
This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Pipes spill across highway in semi crash, killing 3 in passing car, Colorado cops say."
