I-70 reopened through Eagle County in the mountains shortly before 10 last night, after a major midday traffic crash started a wildfire there…
(Hwy 6 Crash and Fire :38)
US Highway 6, which still parallels the interstate through much of that region, stayed closed in both directions overnight, between Eagle and Wolcott. The State Patrol says the head-on crash between a dump truck and an SUV happened around noon Thursday on 6. The SUV driver was hospitalized shortly after, but there’s no word on their condition or the extent of their injuries. Troopers say the dump truck caught fire, and that spread to nearby brush, burning 5 to 7 acres before it could be put out. At one point, as many as 10 fire engines were on the scene. The interstate was closed immediately after the wreck, with a lengthy detour north through Steamboat Springs and another south through Aspen and over Independence Pass adding as much as 2 ½ hours to drivers’ travel times in either direction.
TAG– School dismissals and bus routes across Eagle County were disrupted, with many parents not able to get to schools to pick up their students. The westbound lanes of I-70 reopened shortly before 5:00, but the eastbound side stayed closed until nearly 9 last night, and even then only one lane eastbound was fully open. There was still a single-lane closure for a 2-mile stretch.