EVANSTON — All traffic traveling westbound on Interstate 80 on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 16, was stopped and backed up for miles due to icy conditions and jackknifed semi-trucks. Approximately 10 miles east of Evanston, one semi’s cab was totally destroyed when it hit the trailer of another semi in front of it.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol, local fire department and ambulance crews and tow trucks were all out most of the night making sure travelers were safe and attempting to unblock the bottleneck of trucks and cars.

Local residents Symon Herbst and Alaina Wright were returning to Evanston from Rock Springs in Wright’s Toyota Scion when they were forced to stop on the top of the last “sister” at milepost 13, due to traffic stopped ahead of them. Herbst said the traffic was only moving at around 40 miles per hour when they got to the top of the hill, where traffic was completely stopped. The road was icy and it was a near whiteout visually.

“It looked like 50 to 75 semi-trucks stopped ahead of us heading into Evanston. Just ahead of us, one semi had slid sideways and pushed a pickup truck into the guardrail,” Herbst said. “Behind us, it looked like the traffic was lined up clear past the Kemmerer exit, as far as I could see. A highway patrolman was checking on people in all the vehicles. He was really nice and wanted to make sure we had enough gas or blankets to keep warm.”

Herbst said they had just filled the car with gas at the TA on the way, but they still turned it off now and then to save fuel. They had blankets in the car and snacks but no water. They had cellphone service, so part of the time they watched movies on the phone or slept a little during the few hours they were stopped. It was around 12:30 p.m. when they stopped, and it was 5:30 p.m. when the highway patrol started moving cars out, one at a time.

“I was just glad when I heard no one was hurt or killed and that we were safe,” Herbst said. “They had to bring a tow truck up to move a camper so the semi could move and they could get the pickup out. The front of the pickup that the semi pushed into the guard rail looked to be a total loss.”

Wright said they had experienced a near death moment when they were coming up to the top of the hill. Herbst had to slam on the brakes and swerve into the other lane to avoid hitting the semi that was pushing the pickup into the guardrail. Then another semi was coming behind them and he had to swerve again back into the first lane and had to use the car’s emergency brake to come to a stop. That was the only time they were afraid, the two said.

“We didn’t freak out or get scared about being stopped for hours on the hill,” Wright said. “We knew we’d get out eventually. A highway patrol trooper and a sheriff’s deputy each stopped by to check on us, and they were both really nice and kind. I did get a little car sick from being confined for so long. My car is a two-door, so the only problem was, in order to relieve ourselves, we had to open the driver’s side door and hold a blanket out while we took turns relieving ourselves.”

Two other travelers caught in the chaos on I-80 were Doug and Michele Smith from Port Ludlow, Washington. They had left Denver that morning and were headed to Layton, Utah, where they were spending the night before heading home to Washington.

“We were trapped on I-80 just past Fort Bridger and were stuck there for four hours,” Doug Smith said. “In all that time, we saw no emergency vehicles and wondered what was going on. We saw a few emergency cars pass in the first hour, but no one was checking on us. We were stopped at 5:15 p.m. and weren’t able to move until shortly after midnight.”

Thankfully, the Smiths, who were on the last leg of a road trip, were prepared.

“We were well supplied with food, water and blankets — except for the use of a restroom,” Michele Smith said. “We are both retired nurses and were more worried about other people who might have health issues and were trapped.”

The Smiths said this was their first time on I-80 in 26 years. When they left Laramie, there were only a few snow squalls; however,  just after leaving the area near Fort Bridger, they said the highway became a sheet of ice.

“We were stopped only 2.2 miles from … where we were going to turn to head towards Layton,” Smith said. “When we were finally allowed to move, I put chains and [snow] socks on my tires. The temperature was about 21 degrees when we first had to stop but, when I was putting those chains on, it had dropped to 14 degrees. Once we got going, we had to weave slowly in and out around semi-trucks. It was three semis to one vehicle all the way.”

Arron Healy, public relations officer with the Wyoming Highway Patrol, said there were 10 crashes on the entirety of the three sisters, from milepost 8 to milepost 28, starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, and continuing throughout the day. The majority of crashes were in westbound lanes,  though a few were in eastbound lanes. Most of the crashes involved commercial vehicles and semi-trucks.

Healy said there were three troopers who responded to the closure initially, and two more came on at 2 or 3 a.m. to assist. One of those came in on his day off to assist. It took all five working all night to get the road cleared, Healy said. Every tow truck in the county was called out, two to three fire trucks, the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office, along with ambulance and emergency crews.

Healy advised everyone to be prepared when traveling in Wyoming during the winter months. He said people should have extra blankets, food and water in their vehicles, a full tank of gas, good tires and they should never drive faster than conditions allow.