All lanes on Highway 17 were cleared before noon on Friday after a seven-vehicle crash involving a bus temporarily halted northbound travel.
The crash, which happened around 7:15 a.m., injured four people and slowed northbound traffic toward Los Gatos. By about 11:26 a.m., the bus was towed and the passengers were picked up by another bus to go to their final destinations.
The bus, operated by Santa Cruz Metro, encountered standstill traffic while heading northbound in the left lane of Highway 17. On its route from Santa Cruz to the Diridon/Downtown San Jose stop at the time, the bus could not stop in time and collided with the vehicle in front of it, setting off a collision that involved five other vehicles, said California Highway Patrol authorities.
The CHP said that four people were injured, including the bus driver, and were transported to a local medical facility. There was no further word on their conditions Friday afternoon.
Immediately after the crash, all cars were moved to the right shoulder to keep traffic flowing. The bus was then moved right to the slow lane of the freeway, forcing the closure of the right lane and moving oncoming traffic to the left lane.
Passengers waited on the damaged bus for another bus to arrive to take them to their destinations.
At the same time, CHP officials confirmed that a closure to the Summit Road entrance to Highway 17 northbound was unrelated to the crash. Authorities did not have more information immediately about that closure.
