Anchorage Daily News

A 29-year-old Anchorage woman was killed on the Seward Highway on Saturday afternoon after a minivan left its lane to pass a slower car, then struck her Ford Escape head-on.

Kimberly Vanroten died at the scene, Alaska State Troopers said. A helicopter transported a passenger in her car to an Anchorage hospital. The status of that person was not available Saturday night.

The death on the highway came on a day when troopers significantly beefed up their patrol on the Kenai Peninsula. At least 11 patrol cars were keeping an eye on drivers from Anchorage to Seward, said Capt. Hans Brinke, head of the newly formed Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol.

The bureau was created about six months ago, partly in response to public outcry over the lack of police presence on the Seward Highway, usually plagued by a couple of fatal accidents every summer.

The wreck that killed Vanroten was just south of Portage near Mile 74 of the highway.

Initial reports were that a northbound 2005 Kia Sedona minivan was attempting to pass another car and ended up side-swiping a southbound Nissan truck, then colliding head-on into the next southbound car, Vanroten's Ford Escape. A tire flew off in the crash and struck a 1990 Lexus, causing it to also wreck.

All three struck vehicles -- the Nissan, Escape and Lexus -- were in the "passing lane" of southbound traffic, troopers said.

The other occupants and drivers of the cars involved were not identified by Saturday night.

Everyone in the Kia Sedona was taken to an Anchorage hospital by ambulance.

"It seems like it was a poor passing choice," said trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.

Drivers on the highway said the extra troopers were very visible.

The increased trooper presence will continue today.

"Hopefully that will equate to people slowing down, driving safer and sober on roads, because you never know where we might be," Ipsen said.

The Fourth of July is one of the busiest weekends on the highway, with many Anchorage residents heading south to the Kenai Peninsula.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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