The southbound lanes of Highway 101 in Carpinteria were closed for several hours after a big-rig crash on Saturday, snarling traffic as motorists were detoured onto surface streets.
The incident began at 10:30 a.m. when a big rig struck a guardrail and began spilling a large amount of diesel fuel, according to the California Highway Patrol emergency dispatch reports.
The truck also lost its front axel and a tire.
With the freeway closed, the slow-moving traffic was detoured off the highway at Sheffield Drive to Via Real, then onto Padaro Lane and Santa Claus Lane before re-entering the freeway.
At mid-afternoon, Google Maps was indicating the 27-mile trip from Santa Barbara to Ventura was taking an hour and 10 minutes.
There was no estimate of when the freeway would reopen.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.