Accident Gridlocks Santa Clarita Area
Traffic was gridlocked for much of the day Saturday over a wide area of the Santa Clarita Valley after a tanker truck carrying 8,000 gallons of pressurized gasoline overturned on an on-ramp to the Antelope Valley Freeway.
A three-mile stretch of the freeway and sections of Sierra Highway and San Fernando Road were closed for hours Saturday afternoon and evening after officials, attempting to pump fuel from the downed tanker, discovered it was leaking.
The truck driver was unhurt, and no injuries were reported. But the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways were backed up for miles and traffic was at a virtual stand-still on numerous surface streets as vehicles detoured from the Antelope Valley Freeway after the early afternoon closures.
“It’s got to be the first time that a whole city of 140,000 people has been closed down by a SigAlert,” said Carl Boyer, a Santa Clarita city councilman, who said traffic was stopped on streets near his home five miles from the accident scene.
“All I can say is, thank goodness it’s Saturday,” he said.
Los Angeles County fire and sheriff’s officials said the accident, which occurred just after 7 a.m. Saturday, was cleared and roads were reopened at 8:45 p.m.
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