Garbage truck rolls down embankment in South Canyon

South Canyon road will be closed Wednesday for towing operation

PRESS RELEASE
September 19, 2016

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – The City of Glenwood Springs landfill will be closed on Wednesday after a side-arm garbage truck slid off the South Canyon Road on Monday, and rolled roughly 70 feet down a steep embankment before coming to rest in South Canyon Creek.

The driver survived and managed to climb back up to the road, which will also be closed to traffic on Wednesday for towing operations.

The driver sustained “bumps and bruises” but otherwise escaped relatively unscathed, according to Shawn Parsons, fleet maintenance manager for Mountain Waste and Recycling, Inc., which owns the truck. Colorado River Fire Rescue transported the driver to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.

Parsons said the accident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. and the vehicle was hauling residential trash to the South Canyon Landfill. Interstate 70 was not impacted by the accident.

South Canyon Road, also known as County Road 134, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday while crews retrieve the garbage truck. This necessitates a closure of the landfill while the work is being conducted, said King Lloyd, landfill superintendent.

There will also be a single-lane closure on Tuesday beginning at 10:30 a.m. while a crew from Mountain Waste and Recycling, Inc., pumps hydraulic fluid and diesel fuel from the disabled vehicle.

Parsons said ECOS Environmental will be conducting a preliminary evaluation of the site on Tuesday, as well as additional testing prior to extraction of the garbage truck. “We want to make sure nothing got away from us,” Parsons said. “We want to do our part.”

Blaine Ward Towing of Glenwood Springs will retrieve the truck, and measures were taken on Monday by Glenwood Springs Fire Department to capture any hydrocarbons that may have entered the creek.

The Glenwood Springs Fire Department; Colorado River Fire Rescue; Garfield County Emergency Management; and the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.