Three-Car Crash Snarls Freeway Traffic for Miles

Traffic was at a standstill along a six-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway for nearly an hour Wednesday after a three-car accident in Costa Mesa that blocked all lanes but one.

“I had several cell-phone calls from people stuck in traffic asking what was occurring because they had not moved in 40 minutes,” said Officer Kari Keul of the California Highway Patrol.

The accident, which happened about 2 p.m., involved three cars that tangled in the freeway’s northbound lanes just south of the Santa Ana River. Exactly what happened, Keul said, is still under investigation. But one result was an overturned white sport-utility vehicle, along with at least two other disabled vehicles blocking four of the freeway’s five lanes.

A passenger trapped in the overturned car was eventually extricated by Orange County Fire Authority personnel and treated for minor injuries.

The flow of traffic on the northbound 405 backed up to Jamboree Road in Irvine.

“When you have five or six lanes channeling into one at that time of day,” Keul said, “it can be extremely busy. It took an hour to open everything up and open all the lanes.”