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Highway 166 reopens after 10+ hour shutdown caused by big rig collision

Highway 166 was closed netween New Cuyama and Santa Maria for more than 10 hours Monday night and Tuesday morning after two big rigs collided.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Highway 166 was closed between New Cuyama and Santa Maria for more than 10 hours Monday night and Tuesday morning after two big rigs collided.

The crash shut down traffic between Santa Maria and New Cuyama late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

A major Central Coast highway is open again after a more than 10-hour shutdown after two big rig trucks collided.

The crash happened at around 9:45 Monday night, on Highway 166 about 20 miles east of Santa Maria. The drivers of both trucks escaped with minor injuries.

But removing the trucks and cleaning up the scene took all night. Highway 166 reopened at around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

CHP investigators are trying to determine what led to the collision.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.