On Monday morning, a semi-truck jackknifed on Interstate 80, scattering hundreds of pounds of tomatoes across the highway and closing several lanes.
The incident was reported to CHP at 5:04 a.m. by a Fairfield police officer who was not on duty at the time. Officers arrived to find that the two open haulers on the big rig had spilled hundreds of tomatoes across multiple lanes, closing both directions of traffic near Alamo in Vacaville.
The crash, according to the authorities, was caused by a collision between the big rig and another vehicle near the Davis Street onramp. The driver lost control of the truck, smashed the median, and spilled tomatoes all over the eastbound lanes. Attempts to navigate vehicles through the sauce resulted in multiple collisions.
The CHP reported there were injuries, including fractured bones. The semi-truck driver was one of three people sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.
The California Highway Patrol warned that cleanup would take several hours and that multiple lanes would be stopped. As traffic was backed up for kilometers in both directions after the accident, the agency urged motorists to find alternative routes.
At 8 a.m., only the second leftbound lane was reopened, while the leftmost and center lanes were still closed. The westbound left lane is still closed.
At 11:27 a.m., CHP reported that all lanes going east were once again accessible. It’s been nearly an hour, but the left westbound lane is still closed. At around 3:30, that westbound lane was finally unblocked.