Westbound Highway 24 in Oakland reopens after crash involving big rig

By Brandon Downs

A crash involving a big rig had all westbound lanes of an East Bay freeway closed Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash happened shortly after 3:45 p.m. on westbound Highway 24, east of Highway 13, when the driver of a Subaru made an unsafe lane change directly into the path of a Nissan. 

The Subaru then slowed to a stop due to traffic and was rear-ended by the Nissan, which was hit by a big rig towing a trailer filled with cardboard, causing the big rig to overturn, officers said. 

The cardboard struck a Ford pickup when the big rig overturned. 

Highway 24 reopened sometime before 6:15 p.m. 

Officers said the big rig driver complained of right leg and left arm pain and was taken to a hospital. No other people were injured.

Traffic was stopped for the majority of the day on the westbound Interstate 80 in the Hercules area due to a shooting involving the Richmond Police Department.