Westbound U.S. 60 reopened

by Claudia Koerner - Apr. 29, 2008 09:35 AM
The Arizona Republic
Westbound U.S. 60 reopened after a fiery collision between a tractor-trailer and a parked pickup truck rerouted traffic for more than four hours.
Many drivers faced more than two-hour commutes and were detoured onto Priest Drive as crews removed the vehicles and cleaned up debris.
The road closed after the driver of the tractor-trailer fell asleep behind the wheel and drifted into the gore-point area at the exit from the westbound U.S. 60 to Interstate 10 where a broken down pick up truck was parked, DPS said.
The tractor-trailer hit the back of the pick up, which caught fire after the collision. The driver was able to get out safely before the fire. No one was injured in the collision.


........I saw this fire on the way to work this morning. Kinda eery - there was black smoke billowing up into the sky visible for miles. I got on the 60 headed east and saw the truck on the westbound lanes - engulfed in flames - flames shooting up about 20 feet. What was behind it was even more a spectacle: a freakin' parking lot 3 miles long. All lanes of traffic were being taken off the freeway on to a one lane exit ramp at Priest Drive. Basically, nobody was moving and I had to imagine those people further back must have had to sit there for a long, long time to get off of that freeway.
Don't see that kind of stuff everyday!