Two tractor-trailer trucks were severely damaged about 3:15 a.m. today three miles east of Fruita on eastbound Interstate 70, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Jim Womack said.
Womack said the eastbound lanes of the highway were closed for more than eight hours before reopening about noon.
Womack said the wreckage from both vehicles came to rest below an overpass but caused no structural damage to the bridge and that only one person — a 12-year-old boy — was slightly injured.
“We were very lucky. The morning traffic was light,” Womack said.
Cited by Womack was Marilyn Phillips, 53, of Mankato, Kan., who was driving a 2007 Volvo tractor-trailer from Portland, Oregon.
Phillips ran off the road into the center median, then overcorrected and slammed into the guard rail on the right side of the highway, riding the guard rail for some distance before the trailer she was pulling rolled, Womack said.
Behind Phillips was a second tractor-trailer driven by Daniel Amburgey, 50, of Perma, Mich. He smashed into the tractor-trailer driven by Phillips, Womack said.
His son, the 12-year-old, received an ankle injury.
“Amburgey said he didn’t seen the accident,” Womack said. “But Chris Phillips, who was a passenger in Marilyn Phillips’ truck, said it was five seconds before Amburgey struck their vehicle.”
Marilyn Phillips was cited for careless driving causing injury and failing to comply with Department of Public Safety regulations, specifically keeping her log book up-to-date.
The Volvo tractor was totaled and the 1996 tractor driven by Amburgey was severely damaged, the trooper said. The only damage caused to the highway was to the guard rail, he added.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
