Updated: Traffic was still at a crawl as of 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon slowing motorists who were driving northbound on Highway 99 between the Highway 120 Bypass and Yosemite Avenue.   Tow trucks had pulled the truck around into one lane leaving the other lane open to allow restricted traffic flow on the freeway.

A ladder that fell from a northbound construction pickup truck on northbound Highway 99 shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday morning caused the driver of a Saturn sedan to swerve and cut off a big rig that rolled onto its side blocking the entire roadway from the center divider to the fence on the right shoulder.

Firefighters confirmed that there was one injury in the crash but they couldn’t confirm if it was the driver of the car or the truck that was transported to an area hospital.

Traffic backed up from the scene of the crash midway between Yosemite Avenue and the Highway 120 Bypass interchange commuter traffic to back up in the northbound lanes back to Salida.  Motorists were exiting the freeway at Jack Tone and Austin Roads in an effort to detour around the crash site.

By 9 a.m. Caltrans crews had their sweepers on the freeway cleaning up the debris from the collision.  The cargo on the truck consisted of cases of clear unused wine bottles.  The Saturn reportedly received major front end damage.