This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
U.S. 189 is open again after dense fog contributed to a pileup Saturday morning, shutting down the highway in Wasatch County for four hours.
At 7:20 a.m., a pickup truck pulling a trailer of snowmobiles was driving north on the road through the fog when it hit a guardrail near mile marker 26, on the east side of Deer Creek Reservoir, and blocked traffic. Another truck was not able to stop in time and hit the first truck, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
A man pulled over his van so that he and his 15-year-old son could avoid the crash and help the two truck drivers. But while the teenager was outside of the van, a fourth vehicle struck him. He was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
Several other vehicles crashed into the trucks as well. As of 10 a.m. troopers were not able to give an exact count for the number of vehicles involved, since they were still sorting out who was involved and who had pulled over, said Trooper Lawrence Hopper.
U.S. 189 was shut down in both directions at the site of the pileup until troopers cleared the scene by 11:30 a.m. During the closure, traffic was diverted to 3000 South in Heber, where it connects to state Route 113, which takes commuters back to U.S. 189.
As far as UHP knows, no one else was significantly injured in the crash, Hopper said.
mmcfall@sltrib.comTwitter: @mikeypanda