A dump truck tore through a guardrail and tumbled 25 feet down an embankment along Colorado Highway 67 on Monday, trapping the driver inside the wreckage. The crash triggered a full closure of the highway between Madge Gulch Road and Oak Valley Road near Sedalia, and crews continued working at the scene.
Colorado State Patrol received notice of the crash on Monday, according to CBS Colorado, which first reported that the dump truck drove off the highway, crashed through the guardrail, and traveled down the embankment. Rescuers were able to extricate the driver, who state patrol said was in stable condition before being taken for further medical treatment.
Highway Remains Closed as Crews Work to Recover the Truck
State patrol said Highway 67 would remain closed until the dump truck could be pulled back onto the roadway and hauled away, the outlet's report notes. Authorities continued working at the scene as recovery crews labored to remove the truck from the embankment along the rural stretch of highway.
This isn't the first time a heavy commercial vehicle has gone off the road in almost the exact same spot. In July 2018, West Douglas firefighters carried out a rope-assisted rescue after a similar incident on Highway 67, according to a Facebook post from the time. The earlier incident points to a persistent hazard along this winding foothill corridor.
Guardrail Standards Under Scrutiny Statewide
The crash also raises questions about roadside barrier performance on Colorado's rural highways. A 2024–2025 infrastructure validation of 5,905 guardrails across CDOT Region 1 found that only 10.26% were fully compliant with modern Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware standards, with more than 10% flagged as needing immediate attention due to safety risks, according to NueGOV. Non-MASH installations are linked with crash correlations.
Colorado's transportation department has been working to close that gap. Under updated CDOT safety specifications, standard highway guardrail height is 31 inches to better prevent high-center-of-gravity vehicles from overriding barriers, per CDOT specifications. The guardrail involved in Monday's crash has no publicly established compliance status under that standard.
A Remote, Winding Route With a History of Closures
Highway 67 runs through central Colorado, with its northernmost segment running through the rural foothills of Douglas County before ending at U.S. Route 85 in Sedalia, according to AARoads. A July 2019 fire response prompted a closure near Oak Valley Road, as reported by CBS News Colorado.
West Douglas County Fire Protection District responded to a Highway 67 incident and participated in a mutual-aid technical rescue with South Metro Fire Rescue.
The Crash and Its Cause
The crash caused a highway closure and required recovery work.
The exact cause of Monday's crash — whether tied to brakes, driver distraction, or the roadway's curves — has not been disclosed.
