Semi truck takes to the streets of Lionshead Village, creating a long night for Vail Police
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Interstate 70 closures can often result in problematic situations in the town of Vail, and police officers dealt with one of those situations on Tuesday morning during the most recent extended closure of Vail Pass.
Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gabriel Moltrer said the eastbound I-70 closure had started prior to 11 p.m. on Monday night; the Colorado Department of Transportation said it didn’t reopen again until 9:17 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Vail Police Sargent Marc Antonio had started his shift at 1 p.m. on Monday, and was expecting to get off around 10 p.m., but as he was readying to leave he got a call to assist a tractor-trailer which was stuck in an odd location in town — Lionshead Village.
The truck had ventured off the interstate during the closure and the driver, looking for place to go, decided to turn south onto East Lionshead Circle near the lower entrance to the Lionshead Parking Structure.
Antonio said it’s not an unusual occurrence to see tractor-trailers taking to the streets of Vail during an interstate closure, but what was strange about that particular truck was just how far into the town core it had penetrated.
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“We get a lot of unfamiliar drivers that get off and just start turning down roads that they should be able to identify as roads not being able to accommodate the size of the vehicle,” Antonio said. “But to my knowledge, we’ve never had a semi truck in that location.”
The tractor-trailer became wedged between an island in the center of the road and the curb on the west side of the road, causing damage to both the vehicle and the island.
“It took a few hours because one of the axels was snapped, so the heavy tows had to come up with the best way to pull that truck out without causing any more damage to Town of Vail property and/or the semi,” Antonio said.
The extraction involved two heavy-duty tow trucks and several officers, Antonio said.
“We just advised them that the best course of action was not to leave it there and to kind of clear it out and get it up onto the Frontage Road as far as they could up onto that shoulder to get it towed,” he said. “Thank goodness it wasn’t very busy with traffic — the buses were able to navigate through there — but it was there for a few hours before the heavy tows could get it out safely.”
By the time the vehicle was removed and Antonio had finished his shift, it was 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The driver received a careless driving citation due to the extra work he had created for the town and the damage to town property.
“That was a long shift,” Antonio said. “Seventeen and half hours for me.”
