UPDATE: Police provide more details in fatal crash that closed eastbound Interstate 70, US Highway 6

News News | Jul 25, 2023

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct conflicting information about the location of the crash.

A 26-year-old Greeley man died in a crash with a semi tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 east of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels on Tuesday morning, July 25, according to Colorado State Patrol.

Around 8:34 a.m., emergency services responded to I-70 milepost 218 for a report of the crash, Public Information Officer Trooper Gabriel Moltrer said. The crash closed the eastbound stretch of I-70 from the Loveland Pass exit to the 205 exit near Frisco and Dillon for more than two hours. U.S. Highway 6 was closed from Anemone Trail Road to Loveland Pass.

The tractor-trailer had been driving in the right lane when the driver of a box truck traveling in the left lane “rapidly merged,” Moltrer said.

The front of the box truck crashed into the back of the tractor-trailer, and came to a rest on its wheels facing east on the roadway, he said. The tractor-trailer reportedly came to a controlled stop on the shoulder.

The 40-year-old man driving the tractor-trailer was uninjured and a passenger suffered minor injuries but did not require treatment, Moltrer said. Both are reportedly residents of Cape Coral, Florida.

Medics arrived at the crash eight minutes after the initial call and declared the driver of the box truck, who had been wearing a seatbelt, dead at the scene, Moltrer said.

The crash remains under investigation and alcohol, drugs and excessive speeds are not suspected to have played a role, he added.

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As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.