2 Injured as Trucks Dislodge Construction Beams on I-5

Two motorists were slightly injured Saturday morning when several beams were knocked loose by trucks at a bridge construction site at Interstate 5 and Del Mar Heights Road.

Debbie Russell, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman, said that a northbound truck on Interstate 5 struck several beams used to bolster the new Del Mar Heights Road bridge about 1:30 a.m. and that a second truck then pulled down another beam, blocking all northbound traffic for about four hours.

Caltrans officials were called to the scene, where traffic was backed up and then diverted until the largest steel beam, a 30,000-pound obstacle, could be removed from the road.

Russell said William McKinney Jr., 25, and Kelly McKinney, 26, both of Vista, suffered minor injuries in a collision at the intersection.

Another accident occurred last March when the driver of a crane truck was killed after the crane on the back of his vehicle struck a construction beam and knocked it onto the highway.