Seraphim
05-15-2004, 02:53 PM
GOLDEN, Colo. - A huge steel girder dropped from a freeway overpass construction site into morning traffic on Saturday, crushing one car and killing three people west of Denver.
The huge girder sagged across three lanes of Interstate 70, shearing off the top of an SUV that was carrying a man, a woman and a young girl, said State Patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins.
All three were killed but no other vehicles were involved in the accident, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m., Watkins said. The site is 10 miles west of downtown Denver.
A caller to radio station KOA described seeing a blue Dodge SUV cut in half.
"The front, from the driver's seat forward, is about 200 feet down the road from the other part that's under the girder," the caller told KOA. The station did not identify the caller.
The girder was put up Tuesday as crews were widening a ramp that leads to I-70 from Colorado 470, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacy Stegman. The beam remained connected to the concrete ramp at both ends, with the middle draped across all three lanes of the highway. The crushed remains of the car were underneath.
Engineers were on scene investigating, Stegman said, adding that no vehicles were on the overhead ramp when the accident occurred.
Traffic on I-70, the main route from Denver west over the Rocky Mountains, was stopped in the eastbound lanes and moving slowly in the westbound lanes after the accident.
The huge girder sagged across three lanes of Interstate 70, shearing off the top of an SUV that was carrying a man, a woman and a young girl, said State Patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins.
All three were killed but no other vehicles were involved in the accident, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m., Watkins said. The site is 10 miles west of downtown Denver.
A caller to radio station KOA described seeing a blue Dodge SUV cut in half.
"The front, from the driver's seat forward, is about 200 feet down the road from the other part that's under the girder," the caller told KOA. The station did not identify the caller.
The girder was put up Tuesday as crews were widening a ramp that leads to I-70 from Colorado 470, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacy Stegman. The beam remained connected to the concrete ramp at both ends, with the middle draped across all three lanes of the highway. The crushed remains of the car were underneath.
Engineers were on scene investigating, Stegman said, adding that no vehicles were on the overhead ramp when the accident occurred.
Traffic on I-70, the main route from Denver west over the Rocky Mountains, was stopped in the eastbound lanes and moving slowly in the westbound lanes after the accident.