By Kelsey Givens

One person was fatally injured and another transported to a Las Vegas area hospital after a car collided head-on with a tractor trailer on State Route 160 Wednesday morning, closing the highway between Las Vegas and Pahrump for more than six hours.

The man killed in the accident has been identified by Nevada Highway Patrol as 70-year-old Las Vegas resident Kent A. Ralston.

NHP Trooper Loy Hixson said Ralston was driving his 2002 Ford Thunderbird southbound on the highway toward Las Vegas at approximately 11 a.m. when it appears he failed to maintain his travel lane and crossed over the double yellow center lines near mile marker 22. The car then ran head-on into a 1994 Freightliner tractor, apparently owned by Davis Amusements, driving northbound toward the Pahrump area.

The impact of the collision reportedly pushed the two vehicles in a northwest direction over the center lines.

Ralston was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the tractor trailer, a 42-year-old male from Tacoma, Wash., reportedly suffered minor injuries in the crash, and was transported from the scene to University Medical Center in Las Vegas where he was treated and later released.

State Route 160 was shut down in both directions between Las Vegas and Pahrump from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. as crews worked to separate the cars and clean up the scene to safely reopen the roadway.

Those traveling northbound on State Route 160 from Las Vegas were being redirected back into Las Vegas through the Red Rock area while the highway was closed.