A CalTrans electronic billboard alerted motorists on I-5 at Jeffrey Road to avoid Laguna Canyon Road on Saturday. Photo by Daniel Langhorne
A traffic collision sent utility lines flying onto Laguna Canyon Road, forcing an eight-hour closure of the highway between El Toro Road and Canyon Acres Drive on Saturday.
Laguna Canyon Road was reopened by 12:28 p.m. after Frontier Communications crews work on a utility pole, according to a Nixle Alert.
The incident involved a significant tear down of two poles, Frontier spokesperson Chrissy Murray said Monday.
“Our closest repair crew was in the middle of another critical repair, so we had to dispatch a crew from the Riverside area. The travel time and traffic to get on site affected the speed of the repair,” Murray wrote in an email.
Around 5:28 a.m. on Saturday, Laguna Beach police responded to a report of a single-vehicle collision at 2633 Laguna Canyon Rd. The vehicle struck and knocked down a Frontier utility pole, causing cables to fall across both lanes of traffic. There were no injuries and DUI was not a factor in the collision, Lt. Cornelius Ashton wrote in an email.
Motorists were asked to use alternative routes. A CalTrans electronic billboard alerted motorists on I-5 at Jeffrey Road to avoid Laguna Canyon Road on Saturday morning.
Sawdust Art Festival staffers didn’t see the usual line of visitors at its 11 a.m opening time Saturday. Some employees showed up later than expected because of the road closure.
”It’s picking up and there’s a slow but steady pace of people buying tickets,” Information booth manager Bundy Kinder said Saturday afternoon.
