CDOT Rebuilding Overpass After Semi Smashes Into Supports, Killing 2
SEIBERT, Colo. (CBS4) - Construction crews started demolishing a highway overpass over the weekend in Seibert.
It was damaged when a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 crashed into its support pillars Thursday, killing both people on board.
The crash killed a 47-year-old female driver and a 32-year-old male who was riding in the cab's sleeper.
The woman, according to Colorado State Patrol Trooper Chris Simpson, was flown by medical helicopter to Aurora South Medical Center. She was pronounced dead just after 10 a.m., almost three hours after the accident.
She was from North Carolina, Simpson said.
The truck ran off the right side of westbound I-70 and struck a guard rail, a concrete barrier, and then the bridge supports of the Highway 59 overpass. The tractor was destroyed, as were two of the pillars.
The bridge "was severely damaged and will need to be rebuilt," CDOT's Jared Fiel wrote in a news release Friday.
Workers with the Colorado Department of Transportation began tearing down the overpass Saturday.
"CDOT is moving quickly through emergency contracting to get the bridge rebuilt as soon as possible, but this will be a lengthy closure for CO 59," CDOT's Friel stated.
I-70 traffic is diverted to the exit's on- and off-ramps for the time being. The posted speed limit is 30 mph. Local traffic on Highway 59 now has stop signs at the tops of the ramps.