A 45-year-old man from Model, Colorado was killed and a 17-year-old girl was airlifted with serious injuries after a semitruck failed to yield at a stop sign and slammed into their Buick south of Limon early Thursday morning. The crash happened at approximately 5:56 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 71 and Highway 94, sending both vehicles off the roadway.
According to preliminary reports cited by WesternSlopeNow, an eastbound 2022 Volvo semitruck hauling a trailer failed to stop at the intersection's stop sign and struck the passenger side of a southbound 2014 brown Buick Enclave. The Buick's driver, the 45-year-old man from Model, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KDVR. The Buick's passenger, a 17-year-old girl, was airlifted to a metro-area hospital with serious injuries, the station reported.
Both vehicles ultimately crashed off the roadway after the collision, per the same account.
Conflicting Details on Lane Closures and Hospital Count
Accounts of the crash response differ on a few key points. KDVR reported that portions of the eastbound lanes of Highway 94 were shut down at 6:25 a.m., with portions of the westbound lanes closed shortly after at 6:36 a.m. Kiowa County Press, however, reported that both vehicles left the roadway without blocking any lane, though emergency vehicles blocked the westbound lane of Highway 94 during the investigation.
The station's report also noted that Colorado State Patrol initially said two people were taken to the hospital by ambulance, before later saying only one person besides the airlifted teenager had been transported. Westernslopenow.com separately reported that traffic was alternating in the area while emergency vehicles temporarily blocked the westbound lane, and that the roadway has since completely reopened to traffic.
Vehicular Crimes Unit Leads Investigation
The Colorado State Patrol Vehicular Crimes Unit is the lead agency investigating the crash, according to Westernslopenow.com. The Colorado State Patrol's Limon-area account on X posted that the agency received notification of the crash at the Lincoln County offices, adding that the Limon Troop and the Vehicular Crimes Unit were handling the response, per a post from @CSP_Limon.
Area Has Seen Other Serious Crashes
Thursday's crash adds to a string of serious collisions in the Limon area over the past year and a half. In July 2025, three people, including two children, were killed in an interstate crash involving a semitruck roughly 13 miles west of Limon, according to CBS News Colorado. That crash involved a Subaru Forester that rear-ended a semitruck hauling a trailer as both traveled eastbound on Interstate 70, closing the eastbound lanes for hours.
A separate multi-vehicle collision north of Limon on Highway 71 and Lincoln County Road 3N involved a Ford F150, a Kenworth semitruck tractor combo and a Mazda CX-5, with at least two people transported to a hospital, Westernslopenow.com reported. That roadway reopened at approximately 2:23 p.m. following the crash.
