Westbound Interstate 80 near Sugar House was briefly closed Friday after multiple vehicle crashes piled up on the busy Salt Lake City corridor, forcing drivers off the freeway and onto surface streets. No information on injuries had been confirmed as of Friday night. FOX 13 reported that at least one crash involved a pickup truck rear-ending a semitruck; officials had released no additional information about the incidents.
Drivers were advised to exit at 700 East, with southbound I-215 offered as an alternative route around the closure, according to FOX 13 News. FOX 13 reported the closure and said it would continue providing updates as the situation develops. At least two vehicles, a pickup truck and a semitruck, were involved in one of the Sugar House crashes.
A Corridor No Stranger to Major Shutdowns
This isn't the first time the Sugar House stretch of westbound I-80 has ground to a halt this year. In July, a semi-truck fire closed all westbound lanes near the neighborhood, as captured in video shared by KSL 5 TV. Earlier this month, a 19-year-old driver was killed and a passenger critically injured in a single-vehicle rollover on westbound I-80 near 6200 West, a crash that Gephardt Daily reported police were still investigating.
The Sugar House segment of I-80 is in Salt Lake City.
What Utah Law Requires When Crashes Like This Happen
Any crash resulting in injury, death, or apparent property damage of $2,500 or more must be reported to law enforcement under Utah Code Section 41-6a-402, a threshold that determines when an official police report is generated. Motorists approaching the scene are also bound by Utah's Move Over Law, which requires drivers to slow down and, when safe, shift into a non-adjacent lane when passing stationary emergency vehicles with lights flashing — a rule meant to protect first responders working multi-vehicle crashes on interstates like I-80.
Questions Remain About the Crashes
The cause of Friday's crashes had not been determined as of the closure.
It remains unclear how many vehicles were involved in Friday's Sugar House crashes.
