An early-afternoon crash sent a man to the hospital and knocked out a traffic signal control box at Tracy Boulevard and Schulte Road on Thursday.

According to traffic officers, the crash happened when a Ford F-150 heading west on Schulte Road ran a red light and crashed broadside into a southbound Cadillac sedan on Tracy Boulevard.

The impact sent the Cadillac into a third car stopped at the intersection on eastbound Schulte Road. The Cadillac then ran over the control box between the street and the sidewalk on the southwest corner of the intersection.

A Tracy Fire Department crew had to cut away the driver’s side door of the Cadillac to get to the driver, who was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The man in the pickup did not suffer serious injuries, nor did the woman in the third car.

The $10,000 traffic signal control box, however, had to be replaced. It was knocked off its base, and the wires that lead underground to the traffic signals were ripped away from the interior electronics by the impact.

A crew from Tracy’s Public Works Department replaced it with a spare unit Thursday afternoon but will have more work to do before it can operate in conjunction with other traffic signals, which are timed to promote a smooth flow of traffic on Tracy Boulevard.

Facilities manager Ruben Amezquita said the electronics in the box were likely burned out by a power surge when the box was knocked off its base, but the city will try to salvage anything it can from the box.