Crash snarls traffic on 210 freeway for the second day in a row
Clean-up efforts continue after a big rig on the 210 Freeway near La Ca–ada Flintridge overturned Wednesday morning, triggering a full shutdown of the eastbound lanes.
Eastbound traffic on the Foothill (210) Freeway in La Cañada was thwarted for a second consecutive day Wednesday after a truck carrying produce crashed into a guardrail and overturned just west of the Glendale (2) Freeway transition, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP spokesman Ryan Bejar said the big rig was transporting a shipment from Salinas to Fontana shortly before 2 a.m. when its driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a right-hand guardrail. The impact of the crash caused the truck’s contents, several tons of produce, to spill onto the roadway.
“He went into the right shoulder and collided into the right guardrail,” Bejar said. “He eventually rolled over and spilled the contents of the trailer on the freeway.”
The driver, a San Bernardino man, was not injured in the accident, but several lanes were temporarily closed while traffic was diverted onto the 2 Freeway, Bejar added. As of Wednesday morning, a crew from Caltrans was still making repairs to the damaged guardrail and only the No. 4 lane remained closed, the spokesman said.
On Tuesday, multiple eastbound lanes of the 210 Freeway were closed for hours near La Cañada’s Berkshire Avenue exit following a collision involving several vehicles. During a public-safety presentation that evening, Assistant Fire Chief Gregory Hisel informed members of the La Cañada Flintridge City Council of the incident’s aftermath.
“There were six injuries. (And) we transported five patients to two hospitals,” Hisel said, adding that none of the victims’ injuries were major. “I know it caused quite a traffic jam.”
La Cañada City Manager Mark Alexander said he’d heard the incident occurred when a vehicle tried to merge into oncoming traffic and reportedly sideswiped another vehicle. Hisel said the initial impact was between a truck and two cars, indicating a third car may have become involved.
Reporting on the number of traffic collisions in the month of September, Hisel said six of the city’s 14 incidents occurred on the 210 Freeway, with most occurring near its junction with the Glendale (2) Freeway. He and council members speculated whether brief periods of rain and ongoing construction on the 210 Freeway may have contributed to the collisions.
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Sara Cardine, SaraCardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
