UPDATE: Semi rolls off Barrel Hill; seven vehicles damaged in Wednesday accident

By Rick Sherman

There were no significant injuries but traffic in both directions on US-6 was at a standstill for nearly five hours Wednesday afternoon after an accident involving nine vehicles. The Utah Highway Patrol reports one female from Lehi was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Lt. Steve Salas said the incident happened just before 1 p.m. when an eastbound pickup truck pulling a camp trailer jack-knifed at milepost 268 on what is commonly known as Barrel Hill, just east of the Horse Canyon Rest Area. Several vehicles traveling behind the pickup truck stopped for the accident and that’s when a tractor-trailer rig, also traveling eastbound, came over the hill and collided with some of the vehicles that were stopped.
Seven vehicles were damaged in the chain-reaction crash before the semi veered into the westbound lane, prompting some drivers in that lane to travel in reverse to avoid a collision, before the truck rolled off the highway.
Lt. Salas said because the accident happened on a steep grade between two guardrails, it was necessary to close the highway, and it took longer than anticipated to process the accident scene. Price Public Safety Dispatch received numerous calls from motorists who were concerned and frustrated about the long delay. Some were traveling with special needs kids, or thought they might run out of gas, or just needed a bathroom break.
One lane of the highway was reopened just before 5 p.m. and traffic was alternated through the accident scene before both lanes were cleared a short time later.
The truck driver was cited for following too closely. The driver of the pickup-trailer combo involved in the original mishap was cited for failure to operate within a single lane.