Dave Salverson had always hated U.S. Highway 287, the 65-mile stretch of road providing the shortest distance between Laramie, Wyoming, and Fort Collins, Colorado.
It’s the route where he'd nearly been run into a ditch by a reckless driver, and where he was almost demolished by an 18-wheeler skidding across both lanes down a slope of black ice.
“Had I been 20 seconds ahead, that thing would have taken us out,” he said, explaining that for these reasons he instituted a firm Salverson family driving rule.
“I told my kids, ‘You stay away from 287. It’s no good,’” he said.
Sadly, his son Kevin did not follow the rule.
Kevin Salverson was one of the eight University of Wyoming cross-country runners who died Sept. 16, 2001, in a fatal crash on Highway 287 that left only one survivor – the drunken driver who caused it.
That devastating crash catalyzed a widespread cry for greater highway safety on 287 and still motivates communities and policy-makers across two states.
But even after a variety of safety improvements to both Wyoming and Colorado sections, the route continues to claim lives in alarming numbers.
It also continues to frustrate families like the Salversons when they hear the roadway’s played host to yet another fatal crash, like a gruesome double-fatal head-on collision last week.
“It is just really, really frustrating to hear about this crash [last week],” Salverson said, explaining how each new incident on Highway 287 brings him back to the moment in 2001 when a deputy sheriff knocked on his door to bring news of his son.
“It makes you ask: What can you do?” he said.
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash happened Aug. 3, 2025. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash happened May 3, 2024. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash happened Feb. 16, 2024. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death” 
A pair of vehicles that burned up after a head-on collission on U.S. Highway 287 on Oct. 17, 2025. (Colorado State Patrol) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash happened April 15, 2023. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash happened July 17, 2025. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook)
Head-On Impact
In the twilight hour a week ago Friday, a citizen dialed 911 to warn that a person at the wheel of a Honda Accord was driving dangerously on 287 along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Larimer County, Colorado, just south of the Wyoming border.
But law enforcement was unable to respond soon enough.
About three minutes after the call, the suspected drunk driver, heading north toward Wyoming, reportedly veered across the undivided highway and into an oncoming SUV.
The impact could not have been more direct, causing the southbound Chevy Suburban to crumple like a soda can.
Both cars caught fire, and both drivers were trapped inside.
And whether from the impact or the flames, both drivers died, according to a statement from the Colorado State Patrol.
‘Highway Of Death’
These motorists join a growing list of unfortunate souls to perish on a stretch of roadway morbidly known as the “Highway of Death.”
It embodies all the hallmarks of hazardous travel, like undivided lanes and unpredictable wildlife, extreme winds and vicious winter conditions. Although, the greatest risk on Highway 287 may be the motorists.
On rural routes, driver attitudes can be more laissez faire, equating low traffic with low risk, according to Trooper Hunter Mathews, information officer for the Colorado State Patrol.
Hence, a greater temptation to drive above the limits — both for speed and blood alcohol.
“I do believe that people think that it being a rural road, there's not as much law enforcement, and they think it's safer because there's not as many cars coming at you,” Mathews said, adding that the state has a constant trooper presence on that section of U.S. 287.
“But that can actually make it more dangerous,” he said, "because you can't predict what's going to come around those corners, you never know what's going to happen next."
An television aerial image of the vehicle three University of Wyoming swimmers were in when they were killed in a crash on U.S. Highway 287 on Feb. 22, 2024. (KMGH Channel 7) 
The vehicle three University of Wyoming swimmers were in when they were killed in a crash on U.S. Highway 287 on Feb. 22, 2024. (9NEWS KUSA-TV) 
University of Wyoming swimmers Charlie Clark, from left, Carson Muir and Luke Slabber were killed in a crash on U.S. Highway 287 on Feb. 22, 2024. (University of Wyoming) 
Fatal crash scratches at old wounds and again raises questions about what needs to be done to improve safety on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Ft. Collins, dubbed “Highway of Death." This crash on Feb. 22, 2024, claimed the lives of three University of Wyoming swimmers. (Livermore Fire Protecton District via Facebook)
Growing Through Tragedy
News of the Oct. 17 crash hit hard for Dave Denniston, the UW swimming and dive team coach, as it came just 18 months after three members of the UW swim team died on Highway 287 when their vehicle attempted a lane pass and ended up capsized in a ditch.
On that day, Feb. 22, 2024, Denniston was in Texas with much of the swim team for the women's conference championships. But some of the women’s team had stayed back in Wyoming, including Carson Muir.
Muir was traveling between Laramie and Fort Collins when her Apple Watch pinged her mother with an emergency alert.
The mother immediately reached out to Denniston, who raced to piece together information while trying to keep the rest of the team calm.
“At first they thought the kids were unconscious, but all we had was second- and third-hand information,” he said, describing the feeling of worry that pervaded the team in that initial period, then the sadness that swept through the UW community when their deaths were confirmed.
Denniston remembers the many hours spent grieving with the Laramie community, all while the team prepared for its men's conference championships the following week — in which they would now compete without the help of team members Luke Slabber and Charlie Clark, who also died in the crash.
“I had to be real and vulnerable with them. I didn’t pretend to be strong. I cried as much as anybody,” the coach said.
“I’ve been through these heartbreaking incidents, and especially these ones that could have been prevented they makes you say, 'Could I have done this?’ or ‘Only if that,’” Denniston said. "But it’s all hindsight. We learn to move forward, go with the flow."
It was not Denniston's first run-in with tragedy.
In 2010, he lost his own beloved college swim coach, who died in a rock-climbing accident in Aspen, Colorado. He’s also suffered a severe personal injury from a sledding accident that's left him in a wheelchair for 20 years.
Yet these experiences have given him insight about how to help anchor others in times of disorienting loss.
“Experience is a great teacher and guide, and I’ve fallen back on what I’ve learned from those losses through all of this,” he said, adding that the UW swim team has become as “strong as it's ever been” by growing together through the hardship of the highway tragedy.
“I love this team more than I ever have in large part because of that accident and how we’ve grown together as a result,” Denniston said. “Their resilience, and how we’ve learned to look at different challenges with a new lens. It gave them a lot of perspective.
How Many Crashes?
Between 2015 and 2024, the 25-mile stretch of Highway 287 from Laramie to the Colorado state line saw a total of 545 crashes, including 11 fatal crashes resulting in 13 deaths, according to statistics provided by the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
In Colorado, the 30-mile stretch of 287 south of the Wyoming border saw hundreds of crashes, including 13 fatal crashes resulting in 18 deaths, between 2017 and 2024, according to a safety assessment study from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The Pew Research Center shows the number of fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers has risen in recent years, marking a reversal of a decades-long decline in such incidents, all as the number of DUI arrests have gone down.
In 2o24, Colorado fielded 50,000 suspected drunk driving calls from residents as part of a growing Report all Drunk Drivers Immediately (REDDI) campaign, according to Trooper Mathews.
A statue of a cowboy riding a bucking horse at the University of Wyoming Athletic Department in Laramie Wyo is adorned with flowers and photos of the eight deceased members of the cross country track team two days after the deadly crash on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001. (Ed Andrieski, The Associated Press) 
A plaque commemmorating the eight University of Wyoming cross-country runners killed by a drunk driver on U.S. Highway 287 on Sept. 16, 2001. (University of Wyoming) 
A memorial to the eight University of Wyoming cross-country runners killed by a drunk driver on U.S. Highway 287 on Sept. 16, 2001. (University of Wyoming)
Never Forget
Many of the UW swimmers have paid homage to their fallen teammates with a commemorative tattoo.
In Gillette, people gather every year on Sept. 16, the anniversary of the 2001 death of eight UW cross-country athletes, including locally raised Morgan McLeland, for an 8-mile commemoration run.
The crash that killed McLeland and seven of his teammates — Salverson, Nick Schabron, Joshua Jones, Kyle Johnson, Shane Shatto, Cody Brown, and Justin Lambert-Belanger — focused national attention and scrutiny on the “Highway of Death.”
Last month, more than 400 participants trekked through the city and past the McLeland grave site, where pairs of Hoka running shoes dangled from a makeshift shrine above his headstone.
Sonny Roberts, the Gillette resident who spearheaded the commemoration run, says it has helped the community process the loss of a native son and grow together, while encouraging better driving behavior.
“I call it a beautiful tragedy,” Roberts said. "To see how many people care, come together to support it, because for the family and all of us who are hurt, it makes a hard day a lot easier.”
In the meantime, Dave Salverson and others left grieving those killed on Highway 287 pray for no more “beautiful tragedies."
Zakary Sonntag can be reached at zakary@cowboystatedaily.com.
