Big Rig Overturns At Menlo Park Construction Site

MENLO PARK (CBS SF) -- A driver suffered injuries Tuesday morning when his 53-foot-long big rig loaded with hundreds of pounds of lumber overturned at a Menlo Park construction site, authorities said.

Fire officials said the accident took place at 7:11 a.m. at the massive four-story, 183-apartment "Station 1300" construction site near downtown Menlo Park.

The driver of the truck owned by Channel Lumber, entered from the Oak Grove side of the project and the tractor and fully loaded trailer somehow rolled off the earthen ramp and into the construction site, Menlo Fire officials said.

The driver was able to self extricated, but complained of back and shoulder injuries and transported to Stanford Hospital. His condition was not immediately known.

Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said Cal-OSHA had been notified of the accident.

"Given the dynamics of a busy sub-surface construction site," Schapelhouman said. "We feel fortunate that no one else was injured and that the truck didn't end up sliding further into the basement, or a sea of reinforcing steel rebar, which could have been catastrophic".

The Station 1300 Project, located at 1300 El Camino Real, is the largest residential development project in Menlo Park in a decade. The 220,000 square foot project is situated on a 6.4 acre site that is owned by Greenheart Land Company.