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SALT LAKE CITY — A semitruck rolled over on 3300 South, forcing partial closure of the road and the northbound I-15 junction ramp, Utah Department of Transportation cameras show.
All eastbound traffic coming off the I-15 ramp at 3300 S. 400 West will be forced to turn left and drive west. There is one lane open for those traveling east on 3300 South.
The cause of the crash and details about any injuries are still unknown. Clean up of a crashed semitruck usually takes about two hours, the KSL Traffic Center reports.
There have been seven semitruck rollovers in the last two days, and five preventable rollovers within a 12-hour period on Tuesday, the Utah Highway Patrol tweeted.
The first of the five incidents began about 7 a.m. Tuesday when a semitruck rolled on I-84 in Morgan. The truck took a curve too fast, crashed through the center median and impacted another semi dump truck, UHP said in a news release. The incident closed both east and westbound I-84 for hours.
The second happened about 1 p.m. when a semitruck's trailer separated from the tractor on northbound I-15 at 8600 South in Sandy. All but two lanes on I-15 were shut down for a short time while crews removed the trailer.
While troopers cleared that incident, they received reports of another rolled semitruck on eastbound I-80 near Saltair. The truck, which was hauling salt, overturned about 1:45 p.m. when the driver dropped a lit cigarette and attempted to retrieve it from the floor of his cab. Traffic was impacted by the rollover until nearly 5 p.m.
Not even an hour and a half after the third incident, a semitruck hauling beer took a curve too fast and overturned on I-84, just 16 miles away from the first rollover of the day. The cleanup took several hours, though the road remained opened when the truck left.
Finally at 6 p.m., troopers in the Price area responded to an overturned semitruck that was hauling sod on state Route 191 between Price and Duchesne when it, too, took a curve at a high rate of speed. Both directions of the freeway were closed for over an hour while crews cleaned up.
"In the case of the detached trailer, UHP reminds drivers of the importance of a pre-trip inspection. And in the case of the dropped cigarette, remember, nothing is more important than your primary responsibility to operate your vehicle, especially in a commercial motor vehicle. After immediately slowing down and stopping on the shoulder of the interstate, one can safely recover a dropped item," UHP wrote in the news release. "All of these incidents were 100% preventable!"
The cause of the other two semitruck rollovers has not yet been released.
UHP urged trucking companies to create safety practices that encourage drivers to avoid feeling like they need to push their semitruck's capabilities to the limit to meet time constraints on deliveries.
