SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 19, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A jack-knifed semi-trailer on southbound Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City caused traffic to snarl Sunday morning.
Utah Highway Patrol Cpl. Scott Attridge said the accident happened at approximately 8:40 a.m. at mile post 307, which is 600 South in Salt Lake City.
Attridge said the cargo truck, traveling southbound, lost control on the wet roads and struck the barrier in the median on the left, threw some debris over the median into the northbound lanes and jack-knifed to the right, blocking five lanes of southbound traffic.
“Anytime there’s a semi involved, obviously the impact is going to be pretty great,” Attridge said. “Luckily there were no other cars involved and the driver was uninjured.
“Obviously any time we have to close down five lanes of traffic, it’s going to cause everybody a bunch of delays, so we just ask everyone to try and be patient and slow down, especially in the rain.”
He added that drugs and/or alcohol are not thought to be contributing factors in this incident, and it’s likely the driver was just traveling too fast for the conditions.
Attridge said in the rain, drivers just need to take extra care.
“Any kind of moisture could cause problems,” Attridge said. “So just slow down whether it’s rain or snow.”
Gephardt Daily will update this story when further information becomes available.
