One person died Monday morning in a series of crashes on an icy stretch of Interstate 80 in Summit County involving 23 vehicles — most of them semi trucks — which closed both the eastbound and westbound lanes of the freeway.
The freeway was closed at Echo Junction, mile marker 172, about 7:30 a.m., and traffic was being diverted onto Old Echo Road while the Utah Department of Transportation brought snow plows and salt trucks into the area, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
UHP said “extremely snowy and icy” roads led to five separate crashes on a half-mile span of highway.
(Courtesy Utah Highway Patrol) An aerial shot of Interstate 80 in Summit County, where icy roads were blamed for crashes involving 23 vehicles, most of them semi trucks.
Semi driver 61-year-old Oscar Longoria, of Barling, Arkansas, died at the scene, UHP said.
In addition to the fatal injury, one person was flown to the hospital in critical condition, two people were taken by ambulance with injuries that were not life-threatening and 13 people were taken by school bus to Coalville with minor injuries or no injuries.
One eastbound lane reopened about 11:45 a.m. Westbound lanes reopened by 8 p.m. Monday.
In a 24-hour period, UHP reported that there had been more than a hundred other crashes in Salt Lake County — 109 of which included property damage, 16 of which resulted in injuries and one fatality. Davis County had 25 crashes and Weber County had 21 crashes.
Lake-effect snow contributed to the slush Monday morning, according to UDOT. Chains or four-wheel-drive restrictions were imposed for Big and Little Cottonwood canyons in Salt Lake County.
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