A tractor-trailer loaded full of frozen food hit a telephone
pole and jackknifed Monday morning on Highway 152 near Gilroy,
disrupting traffic for almost 10 hours.
Gilroy – A tractor-trailer loaded full of frozen food hit a telephone pole and jackknifed Monday morning on Highway 152 near Gilroy, disrupting traffic for almost 10 hours.
The crash occurred at 5:16am Monday on Highway 152 between Bloomfield Road and Lovers Lane, the California Highway Patrol reported. Both lanes of traffic were closed for about 15 minutes around noon to fix the tractor-trailer, according to the CHP.
An average of 23,000 vehicles pass through that stretch of Highway 152 every day, according to the California Department of Transportation.
“It has a large impact on commuter traffic,” said officer Chris Armstrong, a public information officer for the Hollister-Gilroy Area office of the CHP. “The CHP apologizes for any inconveniences.”
Keith Kingsberry, a 39-year-old Temecula resident, was driving a 2007 Freightliner westbound on Highway 152 when he began to veer off the road while rounding a curve, Armstrong said. The vehicle hit a Verizon telephone pole. As Kingsberry tried to correct his steering, the tractor-trailer jackknifed, Armstrong said.
Motorists were diverted onto Frazier Lake Road and Highway 156 on Monday as crews unloaded the trailer so it could be righted and the telephone pole could be repaired, Armstrong said. Crews had trouble repairing the pole, causing further delay, Armstrong said.
The road finally opened both lanes at about 3pm, according to the CHP.
Commuters weren’t the only travelers affected.
Gilroy School District elementary school students who live along bus routes off the stretch of Highway 152 where the crash occurred arrived home late Monday, said GSD Transportation Supervisor Darren Salo.
“The morning wasn’t too bad, but this afternoon the kids had to ride around for an extra hour,” Salo said.
More than 50 students from Rucker Elementary, Solorsano Middle and Gilroy High schools take the bus that runs along the Highway 152 route, Salo said.
During the 2006-07 school year, there were three crashes that interrupted the school bus route along Highway 152, Salo said. Parents typically call the schools if the bus is late, Salo said.
“We try to communicate with (parents) as much as possible and we definitely communicate with the school,” Salo said.
