Interstate 80 between Rawlins and Laramie is a mess and it’s not opening up any time soon.
In fact, nearly all of I-80 is closed and won’t be open until Monday evening at the earliest. The Wyoming Department of Transportation is estimating the earliest the Interstate could be opened is between 4:30pm and 6:30pm.
After Saturday’s twin multi-vehicle crashes near the Wagonhound Exit which resulted in one fatality and an unknown number of injuries, clean-up crews continue to tow semis and get debris off the Interstate on Sunday morning.
Horrible Weather
The efforts are being hampered by poor weather conditions. A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect in the area until 11am on Monday.
The high temperature in Elk Mountain, Wyoming — the closest community where the two crashes occurred —is expected to reach -1 degree on Sunday.
Additional snow accumulation in the area is expected between four and seven inches.
The identify of the person killed on Saturday has not been released and no information has been released on the condition of any of the injured.
Hundreds of semis are backed up and waiting in communities all along Interstate 80.
Lack Of Information
Many people voiced frustration on social media with parts of Wyoming Department of Transportation’s website not being accessible.
Many users trying to access WYDOT Road Conditions were greeted with the error message “Service Temporarily Unavailable. The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server.”
However, other portions of the site were accessible. The web cameras section appeared to work with only a few cameras offline.
A section showing all of the road closures was working on Sunday morning as well.
Saturday’s Crash
The Wyoming Highway Patrol said two accidents occurred on Saturday afternoon at about 1:30pm. The first at mile marker 261 westbound and the second at mile marker 266 westbound.
A total of 44 vehicles were involved in the accidents.
According to Carbon County Public Safety dispatch, three fuel spills were reported and were cleaned-up.
