A series of chain-reaction crashes and a fire in a Wyoming highway tunnel that killed three people started when a pickup truck lost control and partially blocked traffic on the slick roadway, federal investigators said Wednesday.
It had snowed before the Feb. 14 crashes along Interstate 80, the primary east-west road corridor through Wyoming, near the small town of Green River, Wyoming. The highway was wet with possible ice or slush near the tunnel exit when a westbound Toyota pickup drove out of the tunnel and spun, hitting a guardrail before stopping, blocking the right lane and part of the left lane, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report.
