PINE VALLEY (CNS) - A vehicle crashed off Interstate 8 in the East County highlands and plunged hundreds of feet into a rocky gorge Thursday, killing the driver.
The eastbound vehicle careened off the freeway about 2:15 p.m. and tumbled down a steep embankment alongside the towering Nello Irwin Greer Memorial Bridge, according to Cal Fire.
The driver was ejected and died at the scene, said Issac Sanchez, a fire captain with the state agency. The man's name was not immediately available.
It was unclear if the vehicle was on the landmark 440-foot-tall span -- originally and still commonly known as the Pine Valley Creek Bridge -- or approaching it when the crash occurred, Sanchez said.
The 42-year-old reinforced-concrete structure was renamed by state lawmakers in 2007 after the well-known Caltrans engineer who designed it.
