Southbound Highway 285 near Morrison shut down early Thursday morning after a single-vehicle crash killed the driver at mile marker 248.8, forcing a detour onto CO 8 and stranding commuters in the foothills southwest of Denver for hours. The closure stretched between Willow Springs Road and Colorado Highway 8, also known as Morrison Road, before crews reopened the roadway around 11:32 a.m.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reported that the crash involved a single vehicle, according to CBS Colorado, which first reported the closure and detour Thursday morning. Drivers were urged to find an alternate route and expect delays in the area while investigators worked the scene. The Colorado Department of Transportation later confirmed the exact boundaries of the closure and the reopening timeline, noting that both directions were affected between Willow Springs Road and the CO 8 interchange near Mile Point 248.9.
A Stretch With a Troubled History
This isn't the first time this specific pocket of US 285 has turned deadly. In May 2021, a semi-tanker rolled over near the same mile marker between North Turkey Creek Road and the Morrison exit, ejecting and killing the driver after the truck's cab separated from the tank down a steep embankment, according to the Denver Gazette.
More recently, in July 2025, a wrong-way driver traveling south in the northbound lanes near Highway 8 struck multiple vehicles, killing two Conifer business owners and shutting the highway down for six hours. CBS Colorado later reported that Colorado State Patrol troopers arrested 33-year-old Michael Colson the following month, after court documents revealed he admitted to consuming alcohol and marijuana before driving roughly three miles in the wrong direction. That stretch of US 285 near Morrison has also been the site of nonviolent but disruptive incidents, including a June cargo spill of loose nails and screws at milepost 247 that disabled multiple vehicles and prompted more than 50 calls to state troopers, a hazard Hoodline previously reported.
Statewide Numbers Trend the Wrong Way
Thursday's fatality lands amid a broader rise in roadway deaths across Colorado. State officials reported in January that traffic fatalities statewide reached 701 in 2025, a 2% increase from 689 deaths in 2024 that ended two consecutive years of declines, according to Colorado Politics. Impaired-driving deaths climbed as well, rising to 234 in 2025 from 215 the year before, per the same report cited by the Colorado Sun.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has pointed to its US 285 Safety Improvements program, which uses FASTER safety funds to build median barriers and extend acceleration lanes along high-risk segments of the corridor to prevent crossover collisions. Those funds generate roughly $80 million annually for statewide highway safety projects. In March, CDOT also partnered with Sturgeon Electric to deploy crash-prevention technology across major roadways in Jefferson and Douglas counties.
Residents Keep Asking for Barriers
Foothills residents living along US 285 have repeatedly pushed CDOT for physical median barriers and lower speed limits through the mountain curves, though transportation officials have countered that rigid center barriers can complicate snowplowing during heavy winter storms, according to 9NEWS. The corridor carries roughly 18,000 vehicles a day through terrain marked by sharp curves and steep embankments.
Thursday's crash comes just two months after Hoodline reported on a fatal roadway-departure crash that killed a teen rider on US 285 north of Aspen Park, underscoring how frequently this Jefferson County corridor has turned fatal in recent months. The identity of Thursday's victim had not been released as of Thursday morning. It remains unclear whether speed, a medical emergency, or roadway conditions contributed to the vehicle leaving the road, and investigators had not indicated when further details on the crash's cause might be released.
