SANTA ANA : Accident Creates Traffic Nightmare
Downtown traffic was snarled for much of the day on Friday after a big-rig truck ran into an 85-foot-high electric pole and caused traffic signal lights along several city blocks to lose power.
Police Lt. Earl Porter said officers initially were forced to close Grand Avenue from Chestnut Avenue to 6th Street after the 12:28 p.m. accident.
By late evening, Grand Avenue from Chestnut Avenue to 4th Street remained closed as police waited for the pole to be replaced. More than a dozen police officers were at the scene throughout the day directing traffic.
“It’s a fairly busy area at all hours,” Porter said. “We had a lot of traffic congestion throughout the day and were kept busy trying to re-route traffic.”
The driver of the truck, whose name was not available, was not injured in the crash at the intersection of Grand Avenue and 4th Street.
“It was an oversized truck carrying an oversized load,” Porter said. “The driver apparently badly miscalculated a turn and just took out the pole.”
There were no other injuries or accidents stemming from the accident, but Porter said it probably caused a lot of headaches for frustrated motorists trying to travel through the area.
“It was a nightmare,” he said.
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