The downvalley lanes of Highway 82 were closed much of the day Monday after two cars, a van, three trucks and a Roaring Fork Transit Authority bus crashed. No one was killed, but four motorists were taken to Aspen Valley Hospital with injuries, including the driver of the bus, who was extricated more than an hour after the accident.
The driver of a late-model Acura Integra, who did not want to be named, said she was traveling slowly in the right-hand lane around 11:20 a.m., when a dump truck pulled out to pass near the turnoff to the Pitkin County Landfill, just upvalley of Snowmass Canyon.
A Coca-Cola truck, that she said likely was going too fast for the snowy conditions, hit the dump truck just after it had passed her, spinning it 180 degrees and jack-knifing the Coke truck.
According to witness Mike Rhodes, the RFTA bus was following close behind and rammed into the Coke truck soon after the first collision, then slammed the Acura on the back and side.
"The Coke truck and bus were going way faster than me ... in the 40s, maybe even higher," said Rhodes, who was driving a semi-truck.
The front doors of the RFTA bus were ripped off and ended up 20 feet away.
