GREEN RIVER — A year after the 2025 Valentine’s Day crash and fire in the westbound Interstate 80 tunnel, crashes on the interstate remain a common occurrence.
Data collected by the Wyoming Department of Transportation shows commercial semitractor-trailer vehicles make up a significant percentage of traffic on I-80, as well as half the crashes occuring on the interstate.
In the last week, the interstate has seen several crashes, including one fatal collision and subsequent fire that killed two California men. Another crash resulted in traffic being backed up on the westbound lane and later diverted through Green River Wednesday, while a third incident resulted in a pickup truck catching on fire on the westbound shoulder outside Green River Thursday.
According to WYDOT data collected between 2018 and 2022, semitractor-trailer traffic is nearly half of all vehicles seen on I-80. The data states 46% of traffic on I-80 consists of commercial semitractor-trailer vehicles. WYDOT crash data collected during the same period recorded a total of 8,105 crashes on Wyoming’s stretch of I-80, 50.6% of which involved commercial vehicles. Of those commercial vehicle crashes, WYDOT says 78% occurred when roads had ice or snow on them and 54% were related to winter weather.
WYDOT data also states 35% of commercial vehicle crashes involve a speeding vehicle.
WYDOT’s data reveals a majority of vehicles on the interstate are not from Wyoming, with data showing 84.9% of eastbound traffic and 91.3% of westbound traffic attributed to nonresident vehicles during that 2018-2022 period. WYDOT data also states 90% of the commercial vehicle crashes involve nonresident drivers.
