1-25 Northbound was re-opened late Saturday afternoon after a major car pile-up had closed down the road between University Boulevard and Broadway in Denver, Colo. earlier in the day.
According to Denver law enforcement officials the closure was caused by two separate car accidents on the same stretch of road.
As more information was gathered as to the seriousness of the situation, the number of vehicles thought to be involved in both accidents increased throughout the day.
At first Denver police estimated that there may have been as many as thirty cars involved in both accidents combined. Before the day was over, that number would more than triple.
By about 4:20 pm EST, police had determined that there were 104 cars involved in both accidents.
The Denver Post is reporting that the pileups resulted in injuries to thirty people, including children. The only confirmed fatality resulting from the accidents was a woman whose identity is currently being withheld.
My prayers go out to all the people in that pile up on I-25 today and to the family of the lady who was killed
— Abby (@abbybroukk) March 2, 2014
Officials spent approximately five hours cleaning the stretch of road, which was re-opened by 5:00 pm EST on Saturday.
Denver law enforcement have yet to announce an official cause for either pile-up that occurred on I-25, but witnesses blame the yesterday’s harrowing incidents on speeding.
Darrell Barber’s Chevy Tahoe was banged up after being hit multiple times by cars skidding by in the accidents. He told the Denver Post, “People were just driving too fast for conditions.”
Barber said that one truck a few cars ahead of him jack-knifed, resulting in a terrifying domino effect as “brake lights started coming on, and people weren’t stopping”.
Barber himself was able to come to a stop, which likely saved him from being caught up in the dangerous series of crashes.
Barber said that he was an experienced firefighter, one who had responded to serious accidents. Even so, the events of the day were something he considered beyond anything he’d previously experienced.
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