Snow, ice set off three big pileups on freeways

60 people arrive via school bus at Castle Rock hotel

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Icy roads and snow caused three major pileups on Interstates 25 and 70 Wednesday.

"We have accidents all over the place," said Master Trooper Ron Watkins of the Colorado State Patrol. "Our troopers are running from crash to crash."

The largest involved 40 vehicles and injured 18 people on I-25 starting about 10:45 a.m. between Larkspur and Monument Hill - a well-known trouble spot.

I-25 was closed in both directions.

Within a couple of hours, a school bus was dispatched to pick up stranded motorists and take them to the Holiday Inn in Castle Rock.

"They sent us 60 people," said Samantha Joo, assistant manager of the Holiday Inn.

At 3:30 p.m., reports of crashes on I-70 west of Vail started coming in. Within an hour, 30 vehicles were involved, sending three people to the hospital. The highway was reopened at 6 p.m.

At 4 p.m., northbound lanes of I-25 were closed at Fountain as the result of an accident involving 12 vehicles, including a Rambling Express bus.

It was triggered when a tractor-trailer lost its load, strewing pipes all over the highway. Two minor injuries were reported.

Weather officials reported that 3 to 7 inches of snow fell in the metro area, much higher than the initial 1-3 inches predicted by many forecasters.

"It's mainly a mountain storm, with moisture from the west," said Jim Kalina, forecast meteorologist for the National Weather Service."These systems don't bring much snow here until we get a cold front with upslope. When you mix a deep upslope with moisture, it brings snow."

The mountains were expected to get 10 to 20 inches.

Most of the snow in the metro area fell south of Denver, although the western suburbs also posted accumulations. Lakewood had 6 inches of snow, while Genessee posted 10.7 inches. One spotter in northwest Denver reported 5.3 inches, while Broomfield had 3.6 inches.

Silverton ski resort posted the highest total - 16 inches.

"It's great," said Aaron Brill, manager of Silverton ski resort. "We have a base of 94 inches mid-mountain, which is awfully close to 100 inches for this time of year. We had 60 inches of new snow in the last two weeks."

Wednesday's storm pileups

• Time: 10:45 a.m.

• Vehicles involved: 40

• Place: Interstate 25, between Larkspur and Monument Hill

• Injuries: 18, four serious

• Road reopened: 3:45 p.m. both directions

• Time: 3:30 p.m.

• Vehicles involved: 30

• Place: Interstate 70, west of Vail

• Injuries: three

• Road closure: 6 p.m. on westbound I-70

• Time: 4 p.m.

• Vehicles involved: 12

• Place: I-25, north of Fountain

• Injuries: two minor

• Road reopened: 8 p.m.