CEDAR CITY — Monday’s snowstorm wreaked havoc on Southern Utah roadways, with dozens of slideoffs and collisions reported.
As of 9 p.m., a total of 37 highway accidents had been reported during the day to the Cedar Communications Center, which includes Washington, Iron and Beaver counties. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Randy Riches told Cedar City News that of those 37 incidents, 13 involved some type of personal injury. Fortunately none of the injuries were life threatening.
Additionally, troopers and other officers responded to another 37 calls of vehicles going off the roadway throughout the day, plus 15 motorist assistance calls, Riches said, all of which led to backups.
“There were weather-related delays on the south end of Iron County and in the Pine Creek area of Beaver County, mainly on I-15 southbound,” he said.
One of the most troublesome spots was the overpass at I-15 Exit 47, which saw multiple accidents in the southbound lanes within a short period of time starting at approximately 1:30 p.m. when the snow started accumulating on the roadway.
As the storm moved north, a semitractor-trailer was reported tipped over midafternoon on southbound I-15 between Beaver and Fillmore, with some of its cargo spilling out of the broken-open trailer.
Also in the afternoon, two separate rollovers and at least two other slide-offs or crashes were reported in the vicinity of mile marker 92 north of Paragonah.
Weather-related delays, closures and other traffic problems were also reported on multiple state roads, including state Route 18 near Enterprise and State Route 143 near Brian Head.
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