Icy road conditions, fog cause 19-car pileup on Interstate 80

Nov. 24—CHEYENNE — A crash on Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie on Thanksgiving afternoon resulted in a 19-car pileup that sent two drivers to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to officials.

One end of a tractor-trailer was ripped off, spilling its load across the interstate, and was separated from the cab, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol Commander Col. Tim Cameron. Cameron said he found a displaced engine from another commercial vehicle when he first walked up to the scene near mile marker 324.

The pileup happened at 2 p.m. and caused four more crashes, said Lt. Leo Ferguson with Wyoming Highway Patrol. The pileup spanned three-quarters of a mile and involved mainly commercial vehicles.

Officials couldn't confirm how long it took to clear the road, but the Highway Patrol continued to receive reports of other crashes for the rest of the day and into Friday.

Cameron took U.S. Highway 30 on his way back to Cheyenne from investigating the pileup and said he could barely see through the fog and heavy snowfall.

"The visibility was so bad," Cameron said. "I was driving on (U.S. 30), but you couldn't see anything on either side of you."

Interstate travel on Thanksgiving was higher than expected, with both regular drivers and commercial vehicles on the roads by the end of the day.

A winter storm moving through the Midwest has created icy road conditions. Blowover warnings were in effect Thursday and Friday for drivers traveling I-80 east of Laramie, and rolling fog had created low visibility conditions.

Friday afternoon, Ferguson said that in the previous 36 hours, Highway Patrol had investigated 86 crashes statewide, assisted 93 motorists and reported at least one fatality, though the location of the latter was unavailable. Officials say poor visibility, high gusts of wind and black ice have created dangerous driving conditions for interstate travelers.

"It's not good. We're getting (reports of) slide-offs and crashes," Ferguson said. "There's a lot of freezing fog, a lot of black ice all over the roadways. People drive too fast for these conditions. It just takes one to have that chain effects where it all goes downhill real quick."

As of 3 p.m. Friday, I-80 westbound between Laramie and Happy Jack Road was closed due to a crash, according to wyoroad.info, and was expected to reopen in four to six hours. I-80 eastbound was open, but an advisory warned motorists of black ice conditions.

An extreme blowover risk remained in effect on I-80 and U.S. 30/287 west of Laramie, which was closed to all light, high-profile vehicles.

All major roads leading out of Cheyenne were slick with snowfall, but there were no other reported road closures. Updates on road closures and conditions can be found on wyoroad.info or by downloading the Wyoming 511 Mobile App.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or [email protected]. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.