HESPERIA — A tractor trailer hauling 20,000 pounds of electronics on northbound Interstate 15 early Sunday traveled about 200 feet off the freeway south of Oak Hills Road, leading to a big rig recovery effort that closed three lanes for several hours, officials said.
The driver of the big rig was not injured and the cause of the crash remained under investigation Sunday, according to CalTrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga.
The incident occurred at about 6:52 a.m., when the tractor trailer, for unknown reasons, rode a guardrail about 300 feet before sliding 200 feet down a slope off the roadway, according to California Highway Patrol incident logs and Kasinga.
CHP officials issued a SIG alert just before 11 a.m., announcing the closure of the number 4 and 5 lanes, while officials sought to recover the big rig and a hazardous waste team went to work to clean up 50 gallons of diesel fuel, 20 gallons of antifreeze and another 15 gallons of motor oil that were spilled.
At about 3 p.m., officials also blocked off the number 3 lane as part of the recovery process. The closure of the 3-5 lanes was expected to last until about 7 p.m., incident logs said, and it was possible that all lanes could be closed momentarily to pull the big rig out.
Speaking conservatively, Kasinga said that the number 4 and 5 lanes, however, would likely remain shut down until about midnight.
“They have three lanes closed, (and) there’s a very good chance they might have to do a complete traffic hold,” Kasinga said shortly after 3 p.m. “They’ll be down there doing the remainder of the clean-up and barricading where the guardrail is.”
The closures had caused northbound traffic to back up “in excess of 10 miles” as of 3 p.m., she said.
Meanwhile, about 20 individuals — some with truck companies assisting in the effort — worked to hand-transfer boxes of electronics from the crashed big rig to another tractor trailer. They appeared to have finished reloading the cargo at around 2:30 p.m.
Kasinga, who called the hazardous portion of the cleanup “not a major” one, also said that 250 gallons of diesel fuel in the truck which had not spilled would need to be suctioned out.