Big Rig Crashes, Flooding, Spinouts Snarling Southern California Freeways
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — On what is shaping up to be the wettest day of the year, drivers are dealing with several big rig crashes throughout the Southland Tuesday morning.
"We have certainly seen a real increase in crashes on area freeways," California Highway Patrol Officer Francisco Villalobos said. "There's been a lot of spinouts, overturned vehicles, jackknifed trucks and fender benders."
The latest problem was a Fed-Ex big rig that jackknifed on the southbound lanes of the Golden State (5) Freeway at the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway. Several lanes were blocked by the crash, and traffic is heavy on the 5 approaching the 14 Freeway.
Two separate SigAlerts were issued for the Long Beach (710) Freeway – one in the northbound lanes at the Glenn Anderson (105) Freeway and another just a few exits away at Imperial Highway, which was cleared at 7:01 a.m. There were also several reports of flooding on the roadway and spinouts, and at one point, all lanes of traffic -- north and south -- were closed, according to the CHP.
In Granada Hills, a big rig truck jackknifed on the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway at Hayvenhurst around 3:15 a.m. and was blocking three lanes, Villalobos said. There were no reports of injuries. A SigAlert was declared at 3:33 a.m., but the roadway was cleared at 5:35 a.m.
Another SigAlert was declared on the northbound 5 Freeway at Stadium Way in the Echo Park area after a big rig crashed and jackknifed around 3:25 a.m., leaving three left lanes blocked, Villalobos said. The accident caused at least one serious injury. The accident site was cleared at 5:40 a.m. and the SigAlert was cancelled.
Yet another crash, which happened about 3:30 a.m. and involved a McDOnalds big rig delivery truck, left the westbound Foothill (210) Freeway at the connector road between the 210 and the Ventura (134) Freeway completely blocked in Pasadena.
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