SM PIER — A crane-equipped truck carrying piles of lumber overturned on the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday morning, partially blocking vehicle and pedestrian access to a popular portion of the pier deck for several hours, authorities said.
No injuries were reported.
A larger crane was subsequently towed onto the beach around 4:30 p.m. and used to lift the lumber truck, which was then driven away with minimal damage.
The accident occurred around 8 a.m. as employees of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corp. (SMPR) were unloading wood planks to be used in rehabilitating the pier’s substructure in the Central Plaza, said Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of SMPR.
The work is part of a three-phase project to rehabilitate the pier and replace the concrete boardwalk with traditional wood planks. The project began in 2002.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt,” Franz-Knight said. “We try to take as many precautions as possible so nothing serious or life-threatening occurs. This was just a minor accident and shouldn’t delay the restoration project at all.”
Vehicle traffic was re-directed to the parking lot below, and adjacent to, the pier and pedestrians were ordered by the Santa Monica Police Department to access the pier from the beach instead of walking through the more popular entryway at Ocean Avenue.
“So far, there hasn’t been too much traffic,” officer Adrian Garcia said shortly after the truck tipped. “As the day goes on though we are going to see a mad rush of delivery trucks, so we’ll probably have to let some of them down to the pier so they can unload. … For the most part, people have been cooperative.”
Employees at businesses along the pier said sales have not been affected by the overturned truck.
“Everything is business as usual,” said Dan Chase, a manager at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
