4 children, 1 adult injured in head-on crash on U.S. 285 in Colorado mountains

Four children and a woman were injured Tuesday afternoon in a crash that temporarily shut down U.S. 285 in Colorado’s mountains, according to the state patrol.

Colorado State Patrol troopers responded to a three-car crash on U.S. 285 near Bailey at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the agency.

A 2017 Kia and a 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan crashed head-on into each other on the highway, and then a 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe hit the two, state patrol officials said.

Paramedics took four children of unknown ages and an unidentified woman to hospitals, according to the release. The children were taken “as a precautionary measure,” but the woman had what first responders believed were serious injuries.

No other injuries were reported by state patrol officials.

U.S. 285 was shut in both directions shortly after the crash, a closure that ran from Bulldogger Road to Roland Valley Drive, about 11 miles south of Aspen Park, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The highway’s southbound lanes reopened at about 2 p.m., and the northbound lanes reopened at 2:30 p.m., according to the agency.

Information on the cause of the crash was not available Tuesday.