Hundreds of gallons of fuel spilled onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike and roads below after a tanker truck flipped over on Wednesday. It shut down all lanes on I-276 for hours between Norristown and Fort Washington and backed up traffic for miles. NBC10’s Deanna Durante has the story.
It took nearly 12 hours, but the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Fort Washington finally reopened Thursday morning after a tanker truck overturned and leaked fuel.
The crash, which involved a tanker truck carrying fuel and at least one car, occurred shortly before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the eastbound lanes of the Turnpike approaching I-476.
SkyForce10 was over the scene as a person inside the damaged car was placed in an ambulance. Officials have not yet revealed that person's condition or if anyone else was hurt in the crash.
I-276 was closed in both directions between the Norristown Exit (No. 333) and Fort Washington Exit (No. 339) due to the crash and leak. Hazmat crews spent hours cleaning up the area and Pennsylvania Sate Police warned the eastbound lanes would remain closed for hours.
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Turnpike officials said 250 gallons of fuel spilled and another 8,800 was still on the heavily damaged truck.
The turnpike sent an emergency alert to drivers in the area of the crash to alert them of it, then began turning around stuck traffic and opening highway barriers to allow cars and trucks to exit.
"We never like to close the Turnpike, but given the complexity of this situation and the high potential for it to become something more dangerous, the closure, detours, response effort and timeline were in line with reasonable expectations," a spokesman for the turnpike system said.
Traffic finally got moving eastbound again just before 5 a.m. Thursday.
State police have yet to reveal an exact cause for the wreck.
