SANTA CRUZ - Crews spent more than five hours trying to move a truck with 30,000 pounds of concrete off Highway 1.
Adding to the mess, it happened during the busy morning commute.
California Highway Patrol said it happened just after 9 a.m.
The accidents happened on Highway 1 just north of Morrissey Boulevard.
Crews closed down two lanes of the highway, backing up traffic for miles.
"This is the most congested section of Highway 1 and so that's why we're working on it," said George Dondero, executive director for the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission.
Dondero reviewed the congestion on a traffic camera hours after a Soledad man crashed his big rig loaded with wet cement.
"It is very fortunate there are no other vehicles involved," said Sarah Jackson, public information officer for CHP. "Luckily everyone around him was paying attention, driving safely."
Almost six hours later, traffic was still backed up, something Dondero said is a reminder of why a third lane might help in cases like these.
"You lose one lane you've just lost 50 percent of capacity on that roadway and essentially that makes everything come to a standstill if there's much traffic at all," he said. "If you had three lanes there, you'd at least have another way to at least get passed the accident."
That's where the Soquel-Morrissey auxiliary lanes project comes into play.
It will add extra lanes for about a mile in each direction from Soquel Avenue to Morrisey Boulevard.
When it's done, Dondero said it's expected to relieve congestion, give you more distance to change lanes instead of weaving, which he said slows traffic down congestion.
The project is expected to be completed by spring of next year.
