Colorado Highway 86 reopens near Elizabeth after deadly crash; CSP says at-fault driver had drugs in truck
Colorado Highway 86 was closed for part of the day between Kiowa and Elizabeth due to a deadly head-on crash on Monday, according to the Kiowa Fire Protection District.
The crash was first reported around 6:35 a.m. about 7 miles east of Kiowa, according to Colorado State Patrol.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said detours were in place via Interstate 70 or U.S. Highway 24. CSP said the response and investigation was expected to take several hours.
In a news release later Monday morning, CSP said the crash involved a 1993 Dodge pickup, whose driver, a 45-year-old man, swerved onto the shoulder of the westbound lane, got back onto the road, but veered into the eastbound lane, where it then crashed into a 2022 Ford SUV.
The driver of the Dodge was pronounced at the scene and the driver of the Ford, a 68-year-old woman, was taken to a hospital in Parker with serious injuries.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but CSP says the now-deceased driver had drugs in his truck and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Investigators did not say what kind of drugs and didn't immediately know if the driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
The site of the crash is about 45 miles southeast of Denver.