Colorado Department of Transportation highway construction engineers will review whether further speed limit reductions are necessary for safety in a work zone on Interstate 70 in west metro Denver — a day after a fatal pipe truck crash killed three people and left three others hospitalized.
Wheat Ridge Police Department investigators on Friday were working with images from a drone deployed over the I-70 crash site, near Ward Road, where the rollover crash scattered pipes over half a mile along a stretch of I-70 . Honeymoon-bound newlyweds Ruben Rodriguez and Juliana Rodriguez Plata, and her mother Luz Melba Martinez were killed after pipes hit their car. The couple’s 1-year-old baby, the father of the bride, and the driver of the semi-truck were injured.
“The speed limit had been reduced from 65 to 60 in this area, and our construction team is reviewing whether further changes are necessary for this work zone beyond our standard protocols,” CDOT spokesman Matt Inzeo said Friday. “We also await details from the crash investigation to better understand all the factors at play yesterday morning.”
CDOT conducts work zone configuration reviews led by traffic engineers after accidents are reported in highway work zones, Inzeo said. “We do not yet have crash investigation findings. We are generally concerned about speeding on this stretch of I-70.”
The crash happened at 8:20 a.m. Thursday along the eastbound I-70 section near Ward Road, where work crews have been replacing a bridge, a $16.4 million construction project in progress since February that is scheduled for completion in October.
Wheat Ridge police often respond to crashes along I-70, agency spokesman Alex Rose said. “We know that I-70 is a crucial corridor that runs through our jurisdiction. ….. We don’t dictate the speed, or the (work zone) configurations, or the construction. We focus on what we can do. We try to make sure people are obeying the speed limits, especially on I-70,” Rose said.
Colorado Department of Transportation officials knew of one previous accident on that stretch of I-70, Inzeo said. It wasn’t immediately clear when that happened and what type of vehicle was involved.
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