Two people were killed on Interstate 70 west of Burlington about 10:30 this morning when a Colorado Department of Transportation weed-spraying truck and a passenger car collided.
Colorado State Patrol Trooper Eric Wynn said the two people killed were in a passenger car registered in Illinois.
Two other people from the passenger car were taken to Kit Carson Memorial Hospital in Burlington, said Wynn.
Kit Carson County Sheriff Ed Raps said the car appeared to be a Chevy Malibu.
Raps said the front and side of the Chevy were heavily damaged.
Raps said the accident occurred about a quarter mile from the Bethune exit, about 8 miles west of Burlington in the eastbound lanes of the highway.
The eastbound lanes of I-70 were closed until around 3:30 p.m.
CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said that a Burlington-based CDOT employee was driving the truck in the right lane of the eastbound lanes as other CDOT employees did general weed-control spraying outside of the truck.
She said the CDOT truck had a flashing arrow on it, telling drivers to get into the other eastbound lane.
Stegman said that throughout the morning other cars had changed lanes, but the car from Illinois slammed into the back of the CDOT truck.
She said the CDOT employee in the truck suffered a concussion and lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released. Stegman said none of the other CDOT employees were injured.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
