Semi truck gets stuck on the streets of Vail

Interstate 70 closures often can result in problematic situations in the town of Vail, and police officers dealt with one of those situations Tuesday morning during the most recent extended closure of Vail Pass.

State Trooper Gabriel Moltrer said the eastbound I- 70 closure had started before 11 p. m. Monday night; the Colorado Department of Transportation said it didn’t reopen again until 9: 17 a. m. Tuesday.

Vail P olice Sgt. M arc Antonio had started his shift at 1 p. m. M onday, and was expecting to get off about 10 p. m., but as he was readying to leave, he got a call to assist a tractortrailer that was stuck in an odd location in town — Lionshead Village.

The truck ventured off the interstate during the closure, and the driver, looking for place to go, turned south onto East Lionshead Circle near the lower entrance to the Lionshead parking structure.

Antonio said it’s not unusual to see tractor- trailers taking to the streets of Vail during an interstate closure, but what was strange about that particular truck was just how far into the town core it got.

“We get a lot of unfamiliar drivers that get off and just start turning down roads that they should be able t o identify as roads not being able to accommodate the size of the vehicle,” Antonio said. “But to my knowledge, we’ve never had a semi truck in that location.”

The tractor- trailer became wedged between an island in the center of the road and the curb on the west side of the road, causing damage to the vehicle and the island.

“It took a few hours because one of the axels was snapped, so the heavy tows had to come up with the best way to pull that truck out without causing any more damage to town of Vail property and/ or the semi,” Antonio said.

The extraction involved two heavy- duty tow trucks and several officers, Antonio said. “We just advised them that the best course of action was not to leave it there and to kind of clear it out and get it upon to the Frontage Road as far as they could up onto that shoulder to get it towed,” he said. “Thank goodness it wasn’t very busy with traffic — the buses were able to navigate through there —but it was there for a few hours before the heavy tows could get it out safely.”

By the time the vehicle was removed and Antonio had finished his shift, it was 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The driver received a careless- driving citation because of the extra work he created for the town and the damage to town property.

“That was a long shift,” Antonio said. “Seventeen and half hours for me.”