Big rig overturns, snarls southbound morning commute
Anyone who’s ever wondered why a dog sticks its head out the window while in the car, it was waiting for a story like this one.
A big rig loaded with pallets of kibble overturned early Monday morning, prompting a crew of more than 10 California Department of Transportation workers to stack bags of dog food as quickly as possible to clear the truck lanes during rush-hour traffic.
“The call came out right after 5 a.m., a semi-truck on its side,” said Josh Greengard, California Highway Patrol spokesman for the Newhall-area Office.
The truck, which blocked the southbound truck lane on Interstate 5, at the 210 transition, managed to snarl traffic for both Highway 14 and Interstate 5 for Monday morning commuters, as the crew worked to offload thousands of pounds of dog food so the truck could be put right-side-up.
The truck lane was closed during the cleanup effort.
“They are offloading — I don’t know how many pounds of dog food, because it’s fully loaded,” Greengard said, “and then as soon as they get it offloaded ... once they get it all unloaded they’ll right it, and hopefully the lanes will be clear.”
While Caltrans’ Quickmaps website estimated clearance by 2:15 p.m. Monday, Greengard noted a tow truck was already on the scene by about 10 a.m. He expected the cleanup to be completed by around noon.
“I would think it’s pretty close to being empty and the tow truck is on scene,” he said shortly after 10 a.m.
“It’s a little tricky getting them ‘righted,’ depending on how big they are and how heavy they are,” he added. “But I would hope sooner than later.”
Shortly before 2 p.m., Caltrans extended the closure alert until 4 p.m. By 4:30 p.m., the website indicated the incident had been cleared.
No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.