UPDATE: Officials share more information on crash near Palisade that killed 3 people, including 2 CDOT workers 

Three people — including two Colorado Department of Transportation workers — are dead after a car crash on U.S. Highway 6 near Palisade on Sept. 4.

Colorado State Patrol officials responded to the scene at 10:42 a.m. on Wednesday, resulting in a roughly five-hour-long closure of the section of Highway 6 near milepost 40. 

During a press conference that afternoon, Colorado State Patrol Chief Col. Matthew Packard said an initial investigation shows the driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee was heading westbound when he struck two CDOT employees in the right shoulder lane who were “performing maintenance operations.”

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The two employees had parked a large, white CDOT van nearby in the shoulder lane and were walking in the shoulder back toward the rear of their vehicle when they were struck. The driver of the Jeep also hit the CDOT van, Packard said. 

Both CDOT workers and the driver’s spouse, an adult woman, were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, an adult male, was transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. He has since been released, according to Packard.

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Both the Jeep’s driver and his spouse are Mesa County residents, he said. 

Identification of the dead individuals will be released by the Mesa County Coroner’s Office once next of kin are notified. 

“Today is a tragic day here in Colorado — certainly to the local community here in Mesa County,” he said during Wednesday afternoon’s press conference. “Today three people were killed — two CDOT employees who were doing what they do every day, trying to make the state safer for people to travel in.”

Packard said an initial investigation by the state patrol’s vehicular crimes unit does not show signs that the driver was impaired. The speed limit in the area is 50 mph, and Packard added that investigators have yet to determine if speeding was a factor. 

“I don’t know that we have an indicator of overly excessive speed,” he said, “but that will all be part of the investigation.”

“The No.1 factor for crashes in this area of the state are lane violations, and I think at the top level, a lane violation is what caused this crash,” he said. “Specifically as to why, whether that was distraction or some other thing, is what the investigation will help us discover.”

The CDOT van was equipped with a sign board that was “up and deployed” while it was parked, but Packard said whether or not the sign was on and advising of road work at the time of the incident “will be a specific part of the investigation.” 

Since 1929, the number of CDOT workers who’ve died on the job is 64, including the two killed on Wednesday.

CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said outside the agency’s headquarters building in Denver, there is a stone that marks the life of every employee who has died “in the line of duty.”

“Once a year, we gather together with our friends and family from the state patrol as well to commemorate every life that’s been lost and to hope and pray together that we will never have to add another name,” she said. “Today, we’re here knowing that we’ll have to add two.”

She said for CDOT employees working on roads, “That is their office, and they are out there protecting the traveling public.”

“When you see vehicles pulled over on the side of the road, doing the public’s work, please, please treat them like they were your own family,” she said. 

Packard referenced the state’s Move Over for Cody Act, passed in 2017 in honor of Colorado State Trooper Cody Donahue, who was killed in 2016 by a semitractor-trailer driver who drifted onto the shoulder of I-25 near Castle Rock.

The law increased penalties for drivers who don’t move over a lane when passing law enforcement vehicles, state highway workers, and first responders especially in incidents that lead to a crash.

State law was updated again in 2023 to require drivers to either move over a lane or reduce their speed to at least 20 mph below the speed limit for stationary vehicles on the side of the road with hazards on, including parked emergency, or service vehicles. 

Failing to move over or slow down can result in a misdemeanor which carries a $150 fine and a 3-point license violation. Drivers who cause bodily injury or death can face a felony charge that carries up to 18 months in prison and fines of up to $100,000.

Packard said a full investigation will need to be done to determine if Wednesday’s incident will be classified as a felony charge. 

“This will take hours and days of work before we can provide our findings to the district attorney and evaluate charges,” he said.