Snow plow off the road near Echo Summit; Road closed until moved

9:15 a.m. update: Highway 50 is reopened Friday morning. The Caltrans snow plow is still down the embankment but crews were able to get it back up on its wheels. They decided to leave the truck down the embankment as traffic was backing up and they will retrieve it at a later time.

Just before 4:00 a.m., a Caltrans plow was eastbound on Highway 50 near Chiapa Drive. There were whiteout conditions at the time and the driver could not see the road. The plow went over the embankment, rolled once and ended up about 50 feet from the road. He suffered some abrasions and cuts but is reportedly okay.

Eastbound traffic was able to move until 7:30 a.m. when tow trucks attempted to get the plow back up onto Highway 50. The road was closed for about 80 minutes to attempt this task.

The type of plow is the one with a hopper with dirt on the back and a blade on the front, not a big grader.

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Highway 50 over Echo Summit remains closed at 7:00 a.m. until crews can pull out a Caltrans Snow Plow that went down a 50-foot embankment.

At 4:01 a.m. Friday, March 2, emergency crews responded to the call of a snowplow over a embankment. The driver suffered some facial lacerations.

The road is closed from Meyers to Echo Summit and there is no work on when it will reopen.

No other details are available at this time.