PORT ANGELES — Work to replace traffic signals at First and Lincoln streets is expected to start today, two days after a pickup truck driver’s medical emergency resulted in a wreck there Sunday evening.
State Department of Transportation crews will install a temporary traffic signal pole today, which should be fully operational within a few days, Claudia Bingham Baker, spokeswoman for Transportation, said Monday.
“Crews were able to find a used pole,” Bingham Baker said.
A permanent new pole will be ordered and installed when it arrives, she said.
The original pole was destroyed Sunday night.
At 9:06 p.m., Port Angeles police were notified of a wreck at the intersection of South Lincoln and West First streets.
Witnesses told police the driver of a white Dodge Dakota pickup truck “slumped over” while driving northbound on Lincoln Street, struck several street signs and eventually hit and knocked over a traffic signal at First and Lincoln streets, said Port Angeles Police Officer Dallas Maynard.
The driver was taken to Olympic Medical Center for treatment, Maynard said.
The identity of the driver has not been released, he said.
Olympic Medical Center policy does not allow the release of patient conditions unless the name of the patient is known.
Maynard said the driver had turned northbound on Lincoln from either the Safeway parking lot or West Third Street, and a driver behind the Dodge saw the man slump over the steering wheel.
The pickup continued accelerating northbound, bounced against the right-hand curb, struck a light pole, drove partially on the sidewalk and returned to the road, he said.
The curb kept the truck moving relatively straight down the road, as the outside of the passenger-side tires rubbed against the curb to keep it on the street, he said.
When the tires jumped the curb, the inside tires kept the truck from either running off the road into one of the buildings on the east side of the street or off the embankment.
Maynard said eventually the pickup truck struck the traffic signal pole at the intersection, severing the pole at the base.
The driver was taken to Olympic Medical Center, and the light pole remained in the street, blocking both Lincoln and Front streets.
The large pole supported long arms to the traffic signals controlling busy traffic on both roads.
The truck and pole were removed, and the intersection reopened at 12:27 a.m. Monday.
Temporary traffic control was installed in the intersection, Maynard said.
Port Angeles City Light crews replaced the light pole Monday.
“We were lucky it hit where it did,” said Vern Daugaard, an equipment operator for City Light.
There are electrical cabinets near the signal pole that control all of the lights in the area of the intersection, Daugaard said.
Replacing everything in the electrical cabinets would be a challenge, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
