Morning crashes slow 101 commute

A Wednesday morning crash on Highway 101 in southern Santa Rosa slowed commute traffic, leading to another chain-reaction crash involving five vehicles, the CHP said.

The second crash blocked the southbound car-pool lane for about 30 minutes and traffic backed up for miles, the CHP said.

The first crash reportedly was minor, at 8:38 a.m., south of Todd Road. At 8:43 a.m., a Salvation Army truck near Hearn Avenue came upon slowing cars in its lane and rear ended a Little Debbie snacks van.

The van was pushed into an Acura, which went into the center median and partially blocked the HOV lane. In the midst of the collisions, a BMW and a Lexus were also hit, the CHP said.

At least one driver was transported to an area hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries.

-- Randi Rossmann