[Update: Roadway Clear] Multi-Car Collision at 4th and R Street in Eureka Blocks Traffic
[Photos by Ryan Hutson unless otherwise noted]
According to scanner traffic, one of the involved vehicles had two juvenile occupants in the back seat. Another involved party was complaining of neck pain. One person was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital.
Eureka Police Department personnel have closed R Street at 4th due to the vehicles blocking the roadway.
According to our reporter, Ryan Hutson, the two left lanes of southbound traffic on 4th Street are open.
One vehicle was able to drive away from the scene while two others are being removed by tow trucks. 
Please remember that this story is unfolding. Information is being reported as we gather it. However, some of the information coming from witnesses and initial official reports could be wrong. We will do our best to get the facts but, in the case that something is inaccurate, we will update with correct information as soon as we can.
Update 4:15 p.m.: The roadway is now clear.
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Another week, another accident at the Same. Damn. Intersection.
I hope plans are underway somewhere to do something about this.
Totally! That intersection is obviously a problem. Eureka needs to have Arcata show them how to get all that sweet, sweet grant money and fix it forever with a roundabout, 15 mph speed limit and those super cool new speed humps that fuck up your car if you don’t treat them like a stop sign.
This is a state highway and not a city street. CalTrans is responsible not the city of Eureka. I bet if people would obey the traffic lights and pay attention to the other vehicles you would see a decrease in accidents.
Another “Hold my beer, watch this shit!” moment
Perhaps the problem is people not stopping at the red light. If people follow the lights, pay attention and look before entering the intersection you would see a decrease in accidents.
Of course drivers should pay better attention.
But making changes to the signals and/or to the intersection seems more likely to be successful than waiting for that magical day when everybody miraculously gets their shit together.
I agree. I used to go to work on 4th and turned left there. I was rear-ended on the far (East) side because the bridge was backed up all the way to the top by a red light. Changing duration of the light might help.
Ahh, no. The government can’t help you. Sorry, you will need to create your own, privately funded non profit for safe driving. The intersection is fine. Please drive safely and follow the signals. No excuses at this point with that intersection since there is no question as to which signal is stay or move. Red, Green. Green arrow. Buses are like a monster Bigfoot truck causing distracted drivers to pay attention to the road. The likelihood of being hurt in a bus must be 1/1,000,000th of that being in a single occupant, gas guzzling and/or Lithium monster, Tesla perfect battery car. Taken the bus yet?
I completely agree with you. It will end up killing someone (if it has not already)! Time for some action. Are you listening Caltrans. From what I know it is Highway 101, not a city street.
No. Not listening. Asleep at the wheel (pun intended).
With such an anemic local economy, at least the relative abundance of car crashes serves to add business to body shops and put some coin into the county’s meager tax coffers.
And one wonders why the insurance rates keep going up!
Yet again, more incompetent Humboldt drivers. This is a controlled intersection. How does this even happen? People from Humboldt would have a very difficult time driving in an actual city.
Was there just after the accident… missed getting to see who was the culprit though.
Either the car turning… or the car going straight through.
Interesting. The 4th street is pretty much a duplicate of the intersection on 5th street… but there are very few accidents on the 5th st intersection.
—
Go figure.
You’re 100% correct, someone was at fault ?
If you-all can figure out another way to get on the bridge, let me know. CalTrans needs to make a few things more clear. And yes, the drivers in Humboldt could use a rutorial…..
You ask me traffic moves too fast on Samoa side 255. It’s a beautiful drive but there’s always somebody up my ass.
Calamity Corner strikes again!
That really is a godsawful intersection in a city full of bad intersections; I nearly died there.
You can report crashes, near misses, hazards, and safe places on Street Story. Governments and agencies are more and more using the data to inform their policies, so the more reports the better.
https://streetstory.berkeley.edu/county/humboldt