Dozens of elk were barely visible in the twilight Friday morning as they grazed alongside the highway near the mouth of Parleys Canyon, standing in the the middle of an onramp before trotting across I-80 with vehicles barreling toward them at freeway speeds.
Multiple close calls were witnessed via the Utah Department of Transportation's traffic camera in the area, and vehicles could be seen getting dangerously close to the animals before the drivers apparently saw them. 2News was monitoring the cameras as a group of elk crossed both lanes of traffic in the area of 2800 East. Commuters traveling westbound who didn't see the elk crossing spooked the herd, causing several of the animals to leap into eastbound lanes. One of the elk bounded directly into the path of a car, which could be seen erupting in a cloud of smoke following the collision.
The melee left the the vehicle disabled on the right shoulder.
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CONTENT WARNING: The video of the crash is shown below. The traffic camera is in night vision mode, and the vehicle is traveling away from the camera, so the low-resolution footage does not show any graphic content of the animal being hit, though it is apparent that one of the elk was struck as evidenced by the sudden plume of smoke from the damaged engine. Discretion is advised.
A second elk was struck about an hour later, according to UDOT.
The state's department of transportation has had a perpetual warning on its incident website warning drivers of the numerous elk present on I-215 East, I-80, Foothill Drive and Parleys Way along the eastern benches of the Salt Lake Valley.
Authorities responding to the scene were in a precarious situation as they attempted to help the driver whose vehicle had been damaged while simultaneously trying not to scare the elk back into traffic.
The 2News crew at the scene was keeping its distance from the crash as well.
UHP stated the driver was not injured.
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The elk were just one of the problems affecting traffic on I-80 Friday morning.
A vehicle fire on westbound I-80 at State Street in South Salt Lake had multiple lanes closed into the morning commute as fire crews extinguished the flames and worked to clear the scene.
Though the fire itself was out relatively quickly, roads remained closed due to a new hazard left in the wake of the firefight.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, authorities had ramps closed from I-80 to both Highway 201 and southbound I-15 as crews worked to prevent the water used to extinguish the fire from turning to ice and leading to more incidents. Traffic was being diverted to northbound I-15 as crews began laying salt, and UDOT did not have an estimation for when the the ramps would reopen.