Chaos erupted on US 93 northwest of Phoenix as a multi-vehicle crash claimed the life of one and injured others, causing a prolonged road closure that snarled traffic for hours. The incident occurred near mile marker 179 on May 30, when a box truck veered across the median and collided head-on with a commercial vehicle before erupting into flames, as reported by FOX 10 Phoenix.

The fiery accident, which involved two other commercial vehicles and resulted in a brush fire that emergency services quickly contained, forced authorities to close the main roadway linking Phoenix and Las Vegas, mentioned by ABC15, it took hours of investigation and cleanup before the lanes could be reopened. The driver of the box truck, identified as 66-year-old James Stephen Nowak of North Las Vegas, Nevada, was pronounced dead at the scene while two others were transported to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

Authorities from the Arizona Department of Public Safety detailed that the collision involved one commercial vehicle hauling dirt-form copper concentrate, adding to the complexity and hazardous nature of the incident. The impacted stretch of highway has been the spotlight of concerns for years, with ABC15 having previously reported on the dangerous conditions and frequent crashes, particularly along the segments between Interstate 40 and Wickenburg that remain undivided highways.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is pouring millions into US 93, engaging in a widening project announced in 2022, set to be completed between this year and 2027; after the completion of which, only a 23-mile stretch of the road will remain a single-lane each way.