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Garbage truck tumbles, driver able to walk away

Staff Report
A garbage truck slid off of South Canyon Road on Monday near Glenwood Springs landfill. Clean-up Tuesday and Wednesday will require road and landfill closures.
Garfield County |

The Glenwood Springs landfill will be closed Wednesday after a garbage truck slid off the South Canyon Road on Monday, and rolled roughly 70 feet down a steep embankment before coming to rest in South Canyon Creek. The driver survived and managed to climb back up to the road, which will also be closed to traffic on Wednesday for towing operations.

The driver sustained “bumps and bruises” but otherwise escaped relatively unscathed, according to Shawn Parsons, fleet maintenance manager for Mountain Waste and Recycling Inc., which owns the truck. Colorado River Fire Rescue took the driver to Valley View Hospital for treatment.

Parsons said the accident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. and the vehicle was hauling residential trash to the South Canyon Landfill.



South Canyon Road, also known as County Road 134, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday while crews retrieve the garbage truck. This requires a closure of the landfill while the work is being conducted, said King Lloyd, landfill superintendent.

There will also be a single-lane closure beginning at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday while a crew from Mountain Waste and Recycling pumps hydraulic fluid and diesel fuel from the disabled vehicle.



Parsons said ECOS Environmental will be conducting a preliminary evaluation of the site on Tuesday, as well as additional testing before the truck is moved.

“We want to make sure nothing got away from us,” Parsons said.

Blaine Ward Towing of Glenwood Springs will retrieve the truck, and measures were taken on Monday by Glenwood Springs Fire Department to capture any hydrocarbons that may have entered the creek.


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