A fiery crash on I-70 killed a driver and shut down the Genesee-Morrison Road area after an SUV plowed into a fuel tanker truck that had pulled off to the right shoulder after overheating.
The driver of the SUV died in the crash. The driver of the tanker truck was taken to St. Anthony Hospital and was in stable condition, a hospital spokesperson said.
The crash, which produced black smoke that could be seen for miles, closed a portion of I-70 east and westbound and backed up traffic for hours. The highway's eastbound lanes opened just in time for the afternoon rush hour — but westbound remained closed indefinitely.
The main east-west thoroughfare in Colorado, I-70 accommodates tens of thousands of motorists. The crash closed both directions between Exit 254 at US 40 and Genesee and Exit 260 at C-470 on the west side of the Denver metro area.
The Colorado State Patrol covering Jefferson and Clear Creek Counties posted on X before noon that the incident would take hours to investigate.
The westbound side of I-70 is expected to be closed for "an extended amount of time," Trooper Gabriel Moltrer said.
Crews inspected the eastbound side, where a culvert was damaged by fire and fuel, and declared that it was safe enough to drive on at 4:15 p.m.
At first, wait times to get through the area of Morrison and I-70 were almost an hour long, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reported, but by mid-afternoon, east-bound wait times were down to just under 30 minutes.
Alternate routes — which included the US Highway 40 frontage road paralleling I-70 or US Highway 6 through Clear Creek Canyon — got stacked up by early afternoon and the Colorado Department of Transportation advised travelers to avoid I-70 at Morrison Road until further notice.
The best alternate route for semis with heavy loads is U.S. 285 to Colorado Highway 9, the department said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and CDOT reported that a westbound semi overheated and parked on the right shoulder to cool down. A car crashed into it from behind.
It was the driver of the oncoming car who died, according to sources close to the crash investigation who asked not to be identified as they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
Lindsay Radford of St. Anthony Hospital said the truck driver is in stable condition.
That stretch of I-70 is heavily traveled route for freight trucks. Tamara Rollison with the state transportation department said that "crews will be assessing where there was damage to the highway infrastructure from the fire."
Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland was on her way to Rifle for work at around 9:30 a.m. when she first saw the smoke.
"It was a good 100 feet in the air and it was very black smoke," Goodland said. "My immediate reaction was 'that’s not a forest fire.'"
After around 45 minutes, the smoke had turned white and by 10:45, the fire was out, but the roads were still closed as fire fighting crews in hazmat suits doused the tanker truck. Crews also dumped water on the side of the highway to stop the spread of the fire.
Aerial views appeared to show a car or SUV, also scorched by fire.
Chatfield, Columbine and Dakota Ridge high schools had scheduled graduation ceremonies at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Those events were not canceled.
Red Rocks is also hosting Bear Creek High School's graduation at 9 a.m. Friday morning, Green Mountain High school at 2 p.m. and Evergreen High School at 7 p.m.
How to get to Red Rocks by skirting westbound I-70 from Denver
Access Red Rocks Amphitheatre from the south entranceUse Alameda Avenue or C-470 to get to the Morrison Road/Bear Creek Avenue exit
How to get to Red Rocks by skirting westbound I-70 from the mountains:Access Red Rocks Amphitheatre from the south entranceUse U.S. Highway 285 and then Colorado State Highway 8 to Morrison
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