Anaheim Man Killed as Crane Topples : Construction: The accident occurred about 3 a.m. on a portion of the Harbor Freeway that is being double-decked. Traffic was snarled for much of the day.

A black flag flying high above the Harbor Freeway on Wednesday marked the scene of tragedy and heavy traffic: the point where a 45-year-old freeway worker from Anaheim was killed overnight in a toppling crane.

The accident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. as crane operator Jimmy Lee Watson was completing work on a portion of the freeway that is being double-decked near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, officials said.

Watson, operating a 100-foot crane, was removing an 11-ton “cap form” used in making concrete pillars when his crane overturned, smashing the operator’s cab into a concrete wall in the center median. Watson was inside the ground-level cab and died moments later of massive injuries, co-workers said.

Watson was believed to be the first construction worker killed during the $55-million, 2.6-mile double-decking of the freeway, and somber crews who were back on the job after sunrise said the accident was a grim reminder that freeway work is hazardous. The Harbor Freeway project, in particular, is both a worker’s and commuter’s nightmare, requiring heavy, difficult work in a narrow center median of one of the city’s busiest traffic arteries.

“Here we are, building a double-deck over eight lanes of live traffic,” said one supervisor with Sacramento-based contractor C.C. Myers Inc., the firm that employed Watson. “We’re working in a median area that’s 36 feet wide. Everything has to be coordinated so equipment can go in and out” without interrupting traffic.

The three-year project, due for completion next year, involves the placement of 50 Y-shaped pillars along the center median to support a traffic lane nearly 70 feet above the existing freeway. While much of the work is done at night, with most freeway lanes closed, the project also has snarled rush-hour traffic for months.

On Wednesday, frustrated motorists were backed up much of the day while two construction cranes--one badly smashed, the other flying the black mourning flag from its towering boom--sat immobile near southbound lanes.

“All I can say is, it’s dangerous work,” said Roy Buekhalter, 49, an ironworker foreman who overlooked the scene from a freeway overcrossing at 42nd Street. “It’s a very dangerous project. I prefer doing a brand-new freeway.”

No one could account for Wednesday’s accident.

Authorities said Watson’s next of kin was his mother, who lives out of state.

While C. C. Myers officials declined to comment, employees of the firm huddled in a construction yard and seemed to dismiss a number of possible explanations.

“It was a big enough crane,” said another crane driver. “The crane was in good condition.”

The driver, who asked not to be identified, said Watson was considered a good operator and that the company emphasizes safety.

“I just seen it tip over,” the driver said, adding that a number of employees ran to the wreckage, where she saw the fallen co-worker in the cab. “I seen his head move,” the driver said sadly, “and I figured, ‘Good, he’s alive.’ But five or 10 minutes later I heard he was dead.”

Times staff writer Henry Chu contributed to this story.