Big rig goes over the edge on Ridgewood Grade

WILLITS, CA, 10/19/17 — An empty tanker has gone over the rail on the Ridgewood Grade, and is straddling the guard rail. The accident occurred in the southbound lane of U.S. Route 101 between Willits and Ukiah, just south of the Harris Quarry near the top of the grade, at mile marker 40. There are one-way traffic controls in place and the southbound lanes are currently closed, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is diverting traffic into one of the northbound lanes to allow cars to continue south, as of about 5:45 pm. The CHP incident report states that the brakes on the tanker locked up, and a tow truck was on the way to the scene as of 5:25pm, but may take over an hour to arrive. Expect traffic to be slow in both directions.

The CHP incident report states that it is fuel tanker. An announcement to media states the tanker is empty. Readers are reporting that scanner traffic is calling it a milk truck.