Posted on 04/17/2015 5:52:09 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
A 150-mile stretch of Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Rawlins, Wyoming, remained closed Friday afternoon, more than 20 hours after major wrecks involving dozens of semi trucks forced police to close it down.
Blinding, blowing snow hit southern Wyoming Thursday, creating impossible driving conditions that police say likely led to a series of three wrecks along the interstate. More than 30 commercial vehicles and 12 passenger cars were involved.
Photos show the semi trucks piled up on one another. No one was killed, but about a dozen people were hospitalized.
Poor weather continued to hammer the area into Friday, complicating the cleanup effort, and forcing WHP to keep the interstate shutdown. They urged anyone planning to drive through the area to check www.wyoroad.info beforehand.
The system brought winter-like weather into the Rockies and High Plains Thursday into Friday, dusting the Denver foothills with a few inches of snow, and dumping at least 45 inches at Snowbird ski resort in Utah.
What about the 1-80 stretch around Evanston? What’s that like?
Thanks.
Yup, I dont care if it snows a trace. They close it down.
I learned to take the road south out of Laramie. Cant remember if it was 281 or what now. But it runs from Laramie to Ft Collins.
the issue is that the wind blows the snow over the highway and then it freezes. Plus the “hill” they have to go over is at 8,878ft. Weather changes quickly along the Snow Chi Mein Trail. :-o
Thanks for the expert counsel. I appreciate the saying of ‘snow not melting but just being rearranged by the wind.’ Bravo.
I’ve driven across Wyoming dozens of times, always with a headwind.
Once in the area of this wreck, I got off at a little exit to let the dog get some exercise. Back behind a hill and out of sight of the interstate was a huge junkyard with row after row of trashed semis and trailers and RVs.
In the middle of the night I met a semi in the fast lane. It was the 80s and I had a CB so I asked him if he knew he was going the wrong way up the interstate. He said, yeah, it’s been a rough day.
287
I heard that the Wyoming Werewolves are keeping the Jackalopes in check.
HEY! Isn’t that Hillary’s van near that one 18-wheeler?
I drove through there in a blizzard in the early 90’s. It looked like a freight train glacier speeding across my windshield. It was the most insane snow I’ve ever seen.
Nice! perfect.
The road out around Evanston has three fairly large hills but is for the most part straight. Usually I was enroute out to the Pac NW, so I usually turned off at Little America and took US 30 up through Montpelier,ID to I-15 near Pocatello,ID then continued west. In winter that was usually much easier than going into Utah through Ogden up to Idaho. And a LOT more scenic than the interstate any time of year.
I appreciate the information. I’ll be visiting Evanston later this spring or early summer. I’m in southwest Colo. and will go up through Utah and cut over to 1-80 at Provo. So I won’t be on 1-80 for too far.
Thanks, again.
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