Comparing two treacherous sections of interstates through Colorado and Wyoming is like comparing two war zones – they’re both brutal, unpredictable and sometimes fatal.
Interstate 80 has a particularly dangerous 150-mile stretch from Cheyenne west to Rawlins, including the site of Sunday’s 22-vehicle crash that killed six people, five from Colorado. An average of nearly 14 people die every year on that stretch of road, part of a major east-west trucking route.
Interstate 70 has a particularly dangerous 160-mile stretch from Denver east to the Kansas border. An average of 10 people die each year along the roadway, which has a slightly lower traffic count than Wyoming’s I-80.
“We don’t have snow that comes straight down. It comes sideways with lots of wind,” said Bob Churchwell, a senior supervisor for the Colorado Department of Transportation who drove a snowplow on I-70 from Agate to Kansas for nearly 20 years. “Visibility is 99 percent of the problem. It can get down to where we can barely see beyond the plow. One of the biggest fears for plow operators is that someone has stopped in the middle of the road.”
Sgt. Troy McLees of the Wyoming Highway Patrol said the main problem on I-80 is the weather changing so quickly.
“We have big changes in elevation – it can go from 6,000 feet to 8,000 feet in 20 miles – that cause conditions to change quickly. We have open prairies with few trees. A lot of squalls with high winds come through that can cause white out conditions in a matter of minutes. In the summer, we’ve had 2 inches of hail fall in 10 minutes, then melt before the plows can get out,” he said.
On Wednesday, 5 miles from Sunday’s crash, the weather rapidly turned to blizzard conditions, causing a tractor-trailer filled with toffee candy to crash and burn. The driver was slightly injured.
McLees said the weather on Sunday closed I-80, then cleared, allowing a maintenance crew to sand the highway.
“We opened it, but a storm surge came in and created a white out that caused the crash,” he said. “We can’t predict these storm surges.”
At the site of the accident, pieces of plastic and car and truck parts are all that remain of the massive wreck. Tires and a Converse sneaker were covered with ice.
Just weeks before the pileup, the Wyoming Department of Transportation completed a study saying that stretch of highway needed several safety improvements. Recommendations included installation of more snow fences and increased video monitoring of the road during winter storms.
Troopers and maintenance workers unanimously agree that speeding vehicles are the second-worst problem.
“The roads out here can get icy suddenly,” said Colorado State Patrol Master Sgt. Lance Wheat, a 29-year veteran who has worked out of Burlington for 17 years. “People slow to 70 or 75 miles per hour when the safe driving speed would be 40 or 45.
“I thought I had seen it all, until today when I clocked a car on I-70 going 111 miles per hour toward Limon,” Wheat said Wednesday. “I contacted the driver, who was a 15-year-old with a learner’s permit. His mom was in the passenger seat, and his fifth-grade sister was in the back.”
Even the ranchers notice the speed.
“Semi trucks go as fast as they can, regardless of the weather,” said Theo Federer, who was repairing a barbed-wire fence along I-80 on Wednesday. “It’s scary.”
At the Petro Truck Stop in Laramie, Albert Lewis of California was washing his tractor- trailer, saying weather conditions are his main concern after 13 years as a trucker along I-80.
“You want to know what the weather report is before you head onto I-80,” he said, adding that heavy winds can cause semitrailers to sway behind the tractors.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Annette Espinoza can be reached at 303-820-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
