Curious commuters who were wondering why there was bumper to
bumper traffic Monday morning on northbound U.S. 101, can blame an
overturned semi-trailer truck at the Sixth Street overcrossing.
By Jessica Thy Nguyen Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – Curious commuters who were wondering why there was bumper to bumper traffic Monday morning on northbound U.S. 101, can blame an overturned semi-trailer truck at the Sixth Street overcrossing.
Dale Barrera, the driver of the truck, was traveling in the slow lane of northbound U.S. 101, when he drifted off the road and struck a changeable message board near the Sixth Street overcrossing. The diesel tank of Barrera’s truck ruptured after he lost control of the vehicle and hit the metal guardrail of the freeway, California Highway Patrol officer Chris Armstrong said.
A small amount of diesel fuel flowed into a water way on the side of the freeway. It took eight and a half hours to clean the spilled fuel. The right lane of traffic was closed at 4am when the accident occurred and did not reopen again until 12:30pm.
“Anytime there’s a big rig,” Armstrong said, “it does take awhile to remove and properly secure [it] off the highway.”
Both the California Department of Fish and Game and the Santa Clara Water District were at the scene of the accident in order to insure that clean up was done properly.
“The major thing was cleaning up the diesel fuel,” Armstrong said.
Traffic was backed up bumper to bumper to the Monterey Road exit earlier in the morning from the Sixth Street overcrossing, and then was backed up to the 10th Street exit before noon.
The cause of the accident is still unknown and remains under investigation.
