Fatal crash on Highway 101 sparks fire, blocks traffic below Cuesta Grade
At least one person was killed in a car crash below the Cuesta Grade north of San Luis Obispo on Friday afternoon.
CHP Officer Mike Willoughby confirmed the Highway 101 crash, which also sparked a car and vegetation fire, was fatal Friday evening, but said he did not yet have any further details on the incident.
It is unclear how many people were involved in the crash.
A single vehicle into a tree was reported on the CHP traffic incident report website around 3:20 p.m. According to CHP, the tree and surrounding brush caught fire soon after.
In response, CHP and Caltrans shut down one northbound lane of the highway as emergency crews responded.
Heavy traffic was reported along the highway through San Luis Obispo during the lane closure, with cars at one point backed up all the way to the Los Osos Valley Road exit, according to Caltrans Quickmaps.
Surface roads in the city itself were also congested due to the incident, Caltrans tweeted Friday evening.
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 4:24 PM.
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