55-year-old Craig woman was killed early this morning on U.S. Highway 40 near Hayden.
A 55-year-old Craig woman was killed early this morning on U.S. Highway 40 between Hayden and Steamboat Springs when a boulder fell onto the roof of the vehicle she was riding in.
The incident occurred between 7 and 7:30 a.m., Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg said. He described it a “freak accident.” The woman, Karen Lynn Evanoff, was killed instantly, Ryg said.
Evanoff was a passenger in a 2004 Buick headed east on U.S. 40 toward Steamboat, where she worked. The basketball-sized rock came tumbling down Wolf Mountain, where the cliff band hugs the north side of U.S. 40 just past Mount Harris, Ryg said.
Colorado State Patrol Cpl. Eric Wynn said said the boulder struck the car near where the windshield meets the roofline.
The driver of the Buick, who was not identified, was able to pull the car to the side of the road. The driver was not injured.
U.S. 40 is one of two main detour routes around a large rockslide onto Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon.
“This is a very, very rare location for a rockslide,” CDOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane told 9News.
Crane said she hesitated to even call the incident a rockslide.
“It was a rock. One rock,” Crane said.
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