100-Vehicle Pileup in Denver After First Snowfall of the Season

Winter is coming. Denver, Colorado recorded its first snowfall of the season yesterday, and frosty hell broke loose on the city’s major thoroughfares. The sudden arrival of icy and wet roads means only one thing. Drivers headed out on their morning commutes, likely unaware and unprepared for the conditions. The crashes were almost inevitable. The most significant incident was a 100-vehicle pileup on West 6th Avenue.

The Denver area saw up to five inches of snow overnight. According to the Weather Channel, the Denver Police Department issued a crash alert because there were simply too many incidents for the department to respond to every incident. The police advised residents only to report crashes to the police if someone was injured, the crash was blocking the roadway, a driver failed to provide proof of insurance or a license, a driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or the municipal government was involved.

There were crashes at various points across the city, and the police responded to a crash on West 6th Avenue at 6:20 a.m. The surreal incident involved 100 vehicles stacked up into each other. Witnesses described the scene to FOX31 as a parking lot. The lanes in both directions had to be closed as the damaged and destroyed vehicles were towed away. The images and video made NASCAR’s massive wrecks at Daytona and Talladega look like child’s play.

I should clarify for those who aren’t familiar with Denver that the 1.3-mile stretch of 6th Avenue between the Federal Boulevard overpass and Klamath Street where the incident took place is a six-lane highway. The westbound lanes begin at Klamath. The eastbound lanes intersect with Klamath before 6th Avenue becomes a five-lane one-way surface street.

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While people were transported to local hospitals, the Denver Police Department reported that no one suffered life-threatening injuries. The owners of the vehicles involved and towed away had until 1 p.m. today to claim their vehicles at Lot C at Empower Field at Mile High, the home stadium of NFL’s Denver Broncos.