Central County : 3 Killed in Accidents on Barricaded 55 Freeway

Three people were killed in two separate accidents early Monday along an eight-mile stretch of the Costa Mesa Freeway that was closed and barricaded for a resurfacing project, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The accidents occurred within 35 minutes of each other. In both cases, the drivers apparently avoided rubber cones set across on-ramps to prevent vehicles from entering. The freeway has been closed daily from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. from the Riverside Freeway south to 4th Street in Santa Ana, CHP public affairs officer Paul Caldwell said.

The first accident occurred about 2:20 a.m. Kathleen Powers, 25, of Newport Beach was driving a pickup truck south when she struck the rear of a loaded asphalt truck making a turn on the freeway just north of 4th Street, Caldwell said. Powers died at the scene, he said.

The second accident occurred at 2:54 a.m. near Lincoln Avenue in Orange when a male motorcyclist and his female passenger traveling south on the freeway at 55 m.p.h. collided with the rear of a flatbed construction truck that was about two feet into the fast lane of traffic, Caldwell said.

Both the driver, James Readinger, 25, of Santa Ana and the passenger, who hadn’t been identified Monday afternoon, were killed instantly, Caldwell said.