Tipped Truck Snarls I-5 for Over 4 Hours
A big-rig truck overturned on the Santa Ana Freeway on Thursday afternoon, injuring the driver and causing an eight-mile traffic tie-up that lasted more than four hours.
“I don’t remember too many like this,” said Mark Reeves, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, of the one-vehicle accident.
The truck tipped about 2:40 p.m. on the southbound Santa Ana Freeway near the Chapman Avenue off-ramp in Orange. Reeves said the 26-foot truck blocked the middle and right lanes of the freeway, forcing frustrated motorists to squeeze through the single remaining lane.
Eventually, Reeves said, that lane too had to be closed so that a Caltrans crew could turn the truck upright and remove it on a low, flat trailer.
The truck driver, whom police did not identify, suffered minor injuries in the accident, was treated at the scene and released. The cause of the accident is under investigation, Reeves said.
Caltrans workers removed the truck and called off the resulting SigAlert by 7:20 p.m. In the meantime, Reeves said, commuters were diverted off the freeway at State College Boulevard in Anaheim.
“This type of accident is fairly rare,” Reeves said.
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