Truck takes out traffic light

An 18-wheel tractor-trailer clipped a street corner and took out a traffic signal Thursday at College Drive and Main Avenue in Durango.

The impact caused a man on a ladder to fall and a woman to be hit on the head by a hanging basket of flowers.

The intersection was closed Thursday afternoon while crews worked to remove and replace the downed signal.

The crash occurred at 12:42 p.m. when a Swift truck traveling south on Main Avenue turned right onto College Drive. The trailer clipped a pole that supports the stoplights, causing it to snap at the ground and come to rest at a 45-degree angle on top of the truck.

Joby Maez, an employee with Jean-Pierre “Le Cafe Chic” & Wine Bar, was on a ladder applying polyurethane to the building when the truck hit the pole. The impact caused him to fall about 6 feet, according to witnesses. He held his arm and complained of back pain before being strapped to a gurney and taken by ambulance to Mercy Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

It was unknown if the truck or light pole hit the man’s ladder.

“I have a feeling it may have hit the ladder,” said Durango police Sgt. Rita Warfield. “He probably jumped, too. I probably would have, rather than get crushed.”

Durango resident Kaley Exum was sitting on a bench outside the bakery when the truck hit.

“He jumped the corner a little bit and took out the light pole,” she said. “I saw the light pole coming at my face. It was like a brush with death. It was intense.”

The pole, about 20 feet tall, hit an awning frame and caused a couple of hanging flowers to fall down. One hit Exum on the head, she said. Her friend pulled her from the bench and out of harm’s way.

“There was a lot of noise, like glass breaking and scraping noises,” Exum said.

Hilary Taylor of Denver was eating lunch inside the bakery looking out the window when the man on the ladder fell.

“It scared me to death. I thought he got taken out,” Taylor said. “That’s what it looked like.”

The accident made a loud crashing noise, she said.

“We thought the driver went through the glass, because it was so loud,” she said. “It all happened so quickly.”

The truck driver was identified as William Kious Jr. of Denton, Texas. He was cited with careless driving causing injury.

He said something about avoiding a car, but “whatever it was, it didn’t work,” Warfield said.

Main Avenue was closed between Fifth and Sixth streets, and College Drive was closed between Narrow Gauge Avenue and East Second Avenue while crews replaced the traffic signal.

The city owns the traffic signal, but it has an agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation to maintain it. CDOT happened to have a replacement pole in the area, said spokeswoman Nancy Shanks.

Repairs were expected to take up to 24 hours, according to a city news release.

Directional signs were placed in the intersection to guide traffic in the meantime.

A sign on the truck read: “Award-winning drivers are safe and courteous. For comments on my driving dial 1-800-347-1656.”

A mud flap on the trailer said: “Caution wide turns.”

shane@durangoherald.com