Early Friday morning, a semi-truck hauling lumber crashed through a sound wall on the Foothill Freeway in Arcadia, leaving the driver hospitalized and causing substantial disruption. The incident occurred around 2:28 a.m. near the Baldwin Avenue exit and scattered debris on the roadway, as reported by KTLA and corroborated by additional sources.
Firefighters managed to quickly rescue the trapped driver, who was then transported to a local hospital. Their condition remains unknown. It was during the early morning commute that lanes had to be temporarily shut down, creating difficulties for commuters to negotiate the stretch of the 210 Freeway northeast of Los Angeles, as covered by NBC Los Angeles.
The crash resulted in the semi-trailer overturning and also colliding with another vehicle. The sound of the impact was described by local resident Robert Hillier, who said, "We’ve never had anything jump the wall like this before since we’ve been here. I’ve been here 24 years," in a statement obtained by FOX LA. Another resident, Carol Kealey, echoed the sentiment of shock and concern, telling FOX LA, "It was kind of scary. This is a very busy corner. It’s incredible, if he survived that’s amazing."
The California Highway Patrol is conducting an investigation to meticulously determine the cause of the accident. Following the crash, officials issued a SigAlert for lanes 4 and 5 of the eastbound 210 Freeway and closed W. Colorado Blvd. to handle the cleanup, which included removing a trailer loaded with 10 tons of lumber, as detailed by ABC7. Traffic was also affected on Colorado Boulevard, though lanes have since been reopened.
The crash notably left a pile of lumber by the side of the freeway, profoundly impacting early morning traffic and likely continuing to affect the area as repair and cleanup efforts endure. For now, the Foothill Freeway bears the scars of this incident, as the community holds its breath in hopes of good news about the driver's recovery.
