Lumber truck trailer flips, slows Highway 97
Highway 97 was partially blocked about 23 miles north of Madras for several hours Monday after a low-speed non-injury crash involving two semi trucks, Oregon State Police reported.
Troopers said ODOT crews and flaggers were on scene, coordinating vehicle and load removal, which involved removing lumber by hand to transfer onto another vehicle before the overturned trailer could be removed.
According to OSP Senior Trooper Jed Rzegocki, the crash occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on Highway 97 near the Cow Canyon Rest Area.
An investigation found that a 2006 Freightliner truck pulling two trailers with processed lumber and driven by Michael Thompson, 63, of Baker City, was turning from the rest area onto the southbound highway when the second trailer overturned onto its side.
A 2001 Freightliner truck pulling a semi-trailer and driven by Juan Camarena, 51, of Stockton, Calif., was in the northbound left turn lane for the rest area when the overturning trailer struck the left side of his truck.
Thompson drives for Radford Trucking Company out of Baker City, and Camarena drives for JC Transport out of Stockton.
OSP troopers were assisted at the scene by ODOT Incident Response. Traffic updates can be monitored at KTVZ.COM’s TripCheck page; it appeared the crash was cleared before nightfall Monday.
