GOLDEN, Colo. – A 40-ton steel girder dropped from a freeway overpass construction site onto morning traffic Saturday, crushing one car and killing all three people inside.
The 100-foot-long girder sagged across three lanes of Interstate 70 west of Denver, shearing off the top of an SUV that was carrying a man, a woman and a young girl, State Patrol Trooper Ron Watkins said.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m., he said. The site is 10 miles west of downtown Denver.
The girder collapsed after temporary braces holding it in place gave way, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacy Stegman said. Authorities had not determined why the braces failed, she said.
U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez said investigators were looking into the possibility of criminal tampering. Jefferson County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Shires confirmed that deputies were investigating, but added, “We are not suspecting criminal activity took place.”
A caller to radio station KOA described seeing a blue Dodge SUV cut in half.
“The front, from the driver’s seat forward, is about 200 feet down the road from the other part that’s under the girder,” the caller said.
The girder was put up Tuesday as crews were adding a lane to a bridge carrying state Highway 470 over I-70, Stegman said. Each end of the girder rested on a concrete pillar, and it had been attached to the existing bridge with five evenly spaced braces, she said.
The ends of the beam still rested on the pillars Saturday, but the middle drooped over the highway. The crushed remains of the car were underneath.
“This is about as bad as it gets,” State Patrol Capt. Jim Wolfinbarger said.
Gov. Bill Owens visited the scene Saturday and offered condolences to the family of the victims, who have not been publicly unidentified.
“I’d say I’m sorry. This is a horrible tragedy, one that you wouldn’t want to have happen to anybody, and we’re going to do everything we can to learn from it so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
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