A loaded livestock truck crashed on the ramp linking southbound Interstate 15 to Interstate 84 in Riverdale, Utah, on Tuesday afternoon, tipping far toward its passenger side and coming to rest on a road-barrier wall — and about 15 cattle died in the crash, the Utah Highway Patrol said. The ramp stayed closed for hours into Tuesday evening while crews cleaned up and cared for the surviving animals.

Source: Gephardt Daily (Utah Highway Patrol)

The crash happened at about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, on the southbound I-15 ramp to I-84 in Riverdale, in Weber County just south of Ogden, according to Lt. Zach Randall of the Utah Highway Patrol, who spoke to Gephardt Daily. The truck was loaded with cattle at the time. KSL and KUTV also reported the overturned cattle hauler on the I-84 eastbound exit from I-15 in Weber County and the delays it caused.

“15 or so” cattle died as a result of the incident, Lt. Randall told Gephardt Daily. Asked about the animals that survived, he said: “The rest are being offloaded and cared for.” Randall said he had not heard of any injuries to humans in the crash.

A ramp closed for hours

This was not a quick clearance. Gephardt Daily reported the roadway remained closed with cleanup ongoing as of 6:12 p.m. Tuesday — more than three and a half hours after the crash — while the surviving cattle were offloaded and cared for at the scene. A cattle hauler lying across an interchange ramp cannot simply be towed away: the load has to be dealt with first, animal by animal, before the truck itself can be recovered and the ramp inspected and reopened.

The I-15/I-84 interchange at Riverdale is one of the main junctions of northern Utah, where traffic heading through the Ogden area splits between I-15, the north–south spine of the state, and I-84 toward Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. A closure there pushes cars and freight trucks alike onto local roads through Riverdale and Ogden, and Utah television coverage through Tuesday evening reported delays in Weber County while the ramp stayed shut.

What is not yet known

The reports published by Tuesday evening did not state a cause for the crash, did not name the driver or the trucking company, and did not say how many cattle were on the truck in total. The Highway Patrol had not, in those reports, attributed the tip-over to speed, a mechanical failure or any other factor — and readers should treat any such claim circulating on social media as unverified until troopers release their findings. What officials have confirmed is narrow and specific: a loaded livestock truck tipped onto a barrier wall on the ramp at about 2:30 p.m., about 15 cattle died, the survivors were being offloaded and cared for, and no human injuries had been reported to the Highway Patrol.

Background: this interchange has seen this before

Long-time Weber County drivers have reason to find the location familiar. On November 22, 2017, a semi carrying cattle tipped on the Riverdale overpass above Interstate 15 at the same I-15/I-84 connection, ripping its side open and throwing multiple animals to their death on the roadway below, Gephardt Daily reported at the time. Traffic was blocked for about five hours on both I-15 and I-84 in that crash. Troopers blamed speed on the curved interchange — the ramp's speed limit is 45 mph — saying the load of cattle shifted and the semi rolled. The driver in 2017 was unhurt. Tuesday's crash, at the same junction and again involving a loaded cattle truck on a ramp, will inevitably revive the same questions about ramp speed and shifting livestock loads, even though investigators have announced no cause this time.

Why truckers watch livestock-ramp crashes closely

Livestock is one of the least forgiving loads on the road: unlike freight strapped to pallets, cattle move, and a live load that shifts on a curved ramp raises a trailer's centre of gravity at exactly the moment the curve is already pushing it outward. That is why interchange ramps — not open highway — are where cattle haulers most often go over, and why experienced drivers treat posted ramp speeds for livestock and tanker loads as hard limits rather than suggestions. For the many Punjabi truckers who run I-15 between Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California, the Riverdale junction is a familiar piece of road, and a multi-hour ramp closure there is the kind of disruption that cascades into delivery windows, hours-of-service clocks and livestock welfare all at once.

What happens next

The immediate work is clearance: finishing the offloading and care of the surviving cattle, recovering the truck from the barrier wall, cleaning the ramp and inspecting it before reopening. Beyond that, the Utah Highway Patrol's investigation will establish how the truck came to tip — including its speed on the ramp and the state of the load — and whether any citation follows. As of the latest reports on Tuesday evening, no reopening time and no cause had been announced.