Aug 28, 2008 10:19 am US/Pacific
3 Major Accidents Strain Bay Area Commute
LIVERMORE (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
3 major accidents on Bay Area roadways made for a trying time for morning commuters Thursday.
In Alameda County, the far right lane of westbound Interstate 580 in Livermore was closed for nearly five hours following the crash of a flatbed truck hauling cardboard, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP received a report of a fire just east of Greenville Road at about 5:10 a.m., according to CHP Officer Marc Johnston. The fire was apparently started by the flatbed truck that crashed on the right hand shoulder, Johnston said.
A Sig-alert was issued at about 5:35 a.m. for the No. 4 lane while fire crews attend to the blaze, which has spread to the hillside, according to Johnston.
Caltrans workers then spent hours cleaning up the burned cardboard and other debris from the truck in the right hand lane.
The accident jammed westbound traffic for miles across the Altamont Pass all the way to Tracy. The affected lane was reopened just after 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, in Santa Clara County, two lanes of southbound U.S. 101 in Sunnyvale reopened at about 9:15 a.m., following a crash in which a big rig transporting vodka overturned and spilled the product onto the roadway, city spokesman John Pilger said.
The big rig overturned shortly before 8 a.m. at North Mathilda Avenue, spilling vodka and fuel and temporarily closing all southbound lanes.
Emergency personnel pulled out the driver of the big rig, but Pilger did not know the driver's condition.
And in San Mateo County, all lanes of state Highway 84 near Woodside reopened just before 8:30 a.m. Thursday after a vehicle crashed into a pole, blocking both lanes for more than an hour, according to the CHP.
The crash was called in at about 6:40 a.m. on Highway 84 between state Highway 35 and Old La Honda Road, CHP Officer Marc Johnston said.
No injuries were reported, but crews needed to close down the lanes in that area to clear debris, Johnston said.
A Sig-alert issued at 7:27 a.m. was lifted at 8:28 a.m.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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