A driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 80 slammed head-on into a cargo van near Coalville on Thursday, killing the wrong-way driver and sending the van's driver to the hospital. The crash forced a lengthy closure of eastbound I-80 in Summit County, snarling traffic in both directions through the afternoon.
The driver of a white passenger car was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes when the vehicle collided head-on with an eastbound white cargo van near mile marker 161, according to ABC4. The driver of the passenger car was pronounced dead at the scene, the station reported, while the van's driver was transported to a hospital with a possible foot or ankle injury.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Andrew Battenfield described the toll differently to KUTV, saying there was one death.
Freeway Shut Down for Hours in Both Directions
Eastbound I-80 was closed to traffic near Coalville in the crash's aftermath, per the same ABC4 report, with the left westbound lane and left shoulder also blocked as crews worked the scene. UDOT estimated the eastbound lanes and one westbound lane would stay closed until approximately 6:30 p.m., according to KUTV. Officials told ABC4 that travelers should avoid the area and expect heavy delays.
The investigation into how the driver ended up going the wrong way on the interstate was still active as of Thursday afternoon, the station's report notes, and no further details on the cause had been released.
Wrong-Way Crashes Trending Down, But Still Deadly
The Coalville crash arrives even as wrong-way crashes have declined statewide. Utah recorded 15 wrong-way crashes in 2025, down from 24 the year before, according to Fox13. Despite the drop in crashes, wrong-way-driving fatalities held steady at five, matching the total from 2024, the outlet reported.
Fox13's data review found that from 2020 through 2024, 303 wrong-way drivers were involved in crashes statewide, and 72 of them were impaired. The state has installed 27 systems designed to alert motorists and the Utah Highway Patrol to wrong-way drivers, and since those systems went in during 2023, UDOT has detected 216 wrong-way drivers across the monitored ramps, per the same report. Total roadway fatalities in Utah in 2025, including those from wrong-way driving, stood at 247, Fox13 noted.
Thursday's crash is not the only fatal incident on that stretch of I-80 this year. In May, a westbound car left the roadway near milepost 159, overturned and struck a concrete irrigation ditch, killing a passenger and leaving two others with critical injuries, according to the Park Record. The identities of those involved in that earlier crash had not been released as of the following Monday, the paper reported.
