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Sam Penrod ReportingHighway 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon is open again. The debris from an exploded, wrecked semi that was carrying gasoline has been cleaned up.
The explosion caused some major headaches for drivers on Monday. The tanker truck crash closed the highway in both directions.
Today crews will begin repairing the road. That may take two days to complete. Highway 6 will remain open during the roadwork, but motorists should expect some delays.
The 39-year-old driver of the tanker is in critical condition, with burns over 90 percent of his body.
The tanker was carrying unleaded gasoline when it wrecked and burst into flames. The Highway Patrol says the tanker was traveling far above the speed limit.
The accident occurred near Thistle Junction at mile marker 191.
The driver of the truck was able to get out, but was critically injured. No one else is believed to have been involved or injured in the accident.
The crash occurred around 1:30 pm Monday, just east of the Hwy 89 and Hwy 6 interchange. The tanker truck was carrying two tanker trailers of unleaded gasoline, about 8300 gallons of gas.
Both tankers completely burned, leaving only charred rubble. The rock wall of the canyon is completely blackened from the smoke and explosion.
Gas ran down the road and caught fire, while the truck and the two tanks it was pulling literally melted onto the highway. It took out two or three of the jersey barriers. Those will need to be replaced, along with the top two or three inches of the road surface.
Long skid marks suggest to investigators that the rig was going too fast. There is a 40 mile per hour warning sign as vehicles approach the curve. UDOT is already in the process of adding speed warning equipment in this area of the canyon.
Back in August 2005, there was a similar crash almost in the exact spot as today's explosion. The driver of a semi-truck carrying explosives took a curve too fast and crashed. That caused a fiery explosion and left a massive crater in the road. No one was seriously hurt, but it took crews several days to repair the road damage. The Utah Highway Patrol filed charges against the truck driver.
In 2004, UDOT reported 20 crashes within two miles either way of milemarker 191. That averages to more than one accident per month. It was even worse back in 2003 when there was an average of two accidents a month in that same area.
