Woman airlifted to UMC following SR 160 rollover crash

A woman was seriously injured in a rollover crash last weekend on State Route 160 between Pahrump and Mountain Springs.

The woman, 48, was traveling southbound on the highway in her red SUV Saturday afternoon when it rolled over, coming to a halt on the shoulder near mile marker 27. The victim had to be extracted from the vehicle by the Clark County Fire Department and was airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas with non-life threatening injuries.

Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Jason Buratczuk said the woman was wearing her seat belt and she was the only occupant in the vehicle.

This is the second crash on the highway in the past few weeks, as a Pahrump man was killed in an accident last month.

Peter Caffejian, 77, passed away from injuries sustained in a head-on collision on SR-160 near mile marker 19, when his pickup truck crossed over into the oncoming lane, striking an SUV head on, killing him on the scene. Two women in the SUV were injured, with one being airlifted to UMC.

Although outside of the area, a widening project on a dangerous portion of SR-160 from State Route 159 (mile marker 10.89) to mile marker 16.63 will widen that stretch of the highway from two travel lanes to four.

The first section of the $16.5 million project is slated to open next month, a one-mile stretch, from SR-159 northbound toward Pahrump. This will be the only section of the highway to be opened by itself, as the rest of the project is scheduled to open all at once, with a completion date set for 2017.

The enhancements to the stretch of highway aside from the widening of the road include flattening side slope shoulders for safer vehicle turnouts, while installing new drainage pipe and tortoise fencing. Other work consists of placing barriers and guardrails as well as hydro-seeding 38 acres.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.