Beer Truck Mishaps Leave Freeways Stewed
Two beer trucks in separate accidents left two Orange County freeways reeling Thursday, snarling traffic while cleanup crews cleared away the spilled suds.
In the first accident, at 8:20 a.m., a truck overturned on the transition road from the northbound Santa Ana Freeway to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway connector in Santa Ana, authorities said.
The spillage closed the transition road for four hours while crews unloaded cases of beer, turned the truck upright and moved it off the freeway, authorities said.
Though there were no injuries, commuters were faced with backed-up traffic for hours, said Officer Raul Malfavon of the California Highway Patrol.
Investigators said it appeared that the truck had been traveling too fast to navigate the curve.
At 10 a.m., another beer truck turned over on Garden Grove Boulevard, causing the closure of the westbound Garden Grove Freeway onramp, Garden Grove Police Lt. John Woods said.
Nobody was injured.
Police closed the onramp until late afternoon while an estimated 13,000 cases of beer were removed from the truck.
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