Truck Crashes, Catches Fire on 101

Two southbound lanes of Highway 101 in Novato reopened Monday afternoon because of a major truck crash but a third was to stay closed until about 8:45 p.m., a California Highway Patrol officer said.

The lanes under the San Marin Drive/Atherton Avenue overpass were closed at about 2:35 p.m. after a tractor-trailer hauling 40,000 pounds of bottled wine hit a temporary concrete barrier when it was cut off by another vehicle, CHP Officer Patrick Roth said.

The crash sheared off the tractor-trailer's fuel tank and a wheel, but it did not cause a fuel spill, Roth said.

The big-rig caught fire, but the blaze was extinguished, CHP Officer Peter van Eckhardt said.

The Novato Fire District said nobody suffered injuries and nobody was transported to a hospital.

All traffic heading south of Petaluma was advised to take Lakeville Highway to Highway 37 to get back onto southbound Highway 101, van Eckhardt said.

The Atherton on and off-ramps on southbound 101 remained open, Roth said.

Hundreds of motorists were stuck in traffic for up to an hour and driver's tempers were rising, according to witness Sue McQuinn, a Novato Patch contributor. CalTrans, the Novato Fire District, California Fish and Game officials were all at the crash site in addition to CHP personnel, she said.

— Bay City News Service. Sue McQuinn of Novato Patch contributed to this report.