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MURRAY -- All westbound lanes of I-215 were shut down for several hours late Wednesday as emergency personnel tried to keep an SUV from falling nearly 40 feet from an overpass to the freeway below.
Multiple agencies assisted in diverting traffic off the freeway, near 1300 East and 6700 South just after 6:30 p.m. Cottonwood Heights police Sgt. Mark Askerlund said the SUV hit the cement barrier, which catapulted it over the chain-link fence, and the vehicle came to rest on the water pipes that run adjacent to the roadway.
A fence rail also went through the windshield and out the back window of the SUV, and yet the driver was not injured, Askerlund said. He said the driver was cleared by medical personnel at the scene but was taken to the police station for questioning about how the accident happened.
The accident remains under investigation and Askerlund said, "it could have been much worse."
"The vehicle could have fallen onto I-215 below and we could have had all kinds of problems resulting from that," he said.
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Story written by Wendy Leonard, with contributions from Sandra Yi.
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