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West Glenwood rush-hour I-70 accident halts traffic for 45 minutes

Greg Mass

A three-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon turned Interstate 70 into a virtual parking lot. The cause of the crash, which happened on the highway overpass over Midland Avenue near the 114 interchange, was still being investigated by Glenwood Springs police Thursday evening. The crash happened at 4:30 p.m., just in time to tie up the highway for rush hour. Four people were transported to Valley View Hospital for their injuries, but according to Glenwood Springs police chief Terry Wilson, none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.”Timing-wise, you just couldn’t get an awful lot worse,” Wilson said. Preliminary reports seemed to indicate that the crash was caused when traffic in both westbound lanes of the highway slowed down significantly or came to a stop, then a pickup truck approaching from behind slammed into one of the vehicles in the back of the jam-up. A tractor-trailer was one of the vehicles involved in the accident. It was stopped in the right lane of the highway. A Chevy Tahoe was stopped in the left lane. “When the pickup truck came up over the rise and realized everyone was stopped” the driver saw the semi, then swerved to avoid it and hit the Tahoe, Wilson said. One person in the Tahoe had to be extricated from that vehicle by members of the Glenwood Springs Fire Department. “We’re not sure why the vehicles were stopped,” Wilson said. Traffic was at a complete standstill for about 45 minutes, backing well into Glenwood Canyon. At around 5:15, police opened one lane, then about 15 minutes later, the other was opened. Traffic was still slowed until at least 7 p.m. Traffic was also snarled on Midland Avenue and on Highway 6 & 24 in Glenwood Springs.


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