Highway 37 fatal crash involving car upside down in water snarls traffic; briefly closes roadway

Authorities are investigating a fatal crash Saturday that forced the closure of a portion of Highway 37 just east of Skaggs Island.

According to the California Highway Patrol traffic incident website, the crash was reported shortly after 6:30 a.m. when a motorist came upon another vehicle that was upside down in the water off the right-hand shoulder of the roadway.

Responding emergency personnel reported that in addition to the traffic crash, power lines were down within the area and had gone across the crashed vehicle.

Authorities notified Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which dispatched a crew to the area, officials said.

According to the CHP website, soon after the crash eastbound Highway 37 just east of Skaggs Island between Novato and Vallejo was shut down. Traffic was diverted to Highway 121.

Details about how many people were in the crashed vehicle or specifics on any injuries were not immediately available Saturday morning.

There was a fatality, however. Emergency personnel requested a coroner to the scene shortly before 8 a.m., according to the CHP website.

Authorities said traffic appeared to be backed up to the Fresh Air Bridge and would likely remain snarled for a time. Motorists were advised to use Interstate 580 to bypass the area.

The eastbound portion of Highway 37 remained closed while emergency personnel worked at the crash site.

At about 9:45 a.m., the roadway was reopened and the scene was cleared. PG&E crews had also restored power in the area. The outage had affected nearly 300 customers, according to PG&E’s outage map.

Highway 37 is a 21-mile stretch of roadway running from U.S. 101 in Novato, through northeastern Marin County and the southern tips of both Sonoma and Solano counties, to Interstate 80 in Vallejo.