Gasoline spill forces Pa. Turnpike to close

About 3,000 gallons of gas spilled, an official said.

staff report

LITTLE BEAVER, Pa. — Travelers along the Pennsylvania Turnpike had to find alternate traffic routes for part of Saturday after the road was closed while crews contained a gasoline spill.

The incident happened around 6:30 a.m. about four miles east of the Ohio line.

Brian Melcer, director of emergency management for Lawrence County’s Public Safety Department, said a tanker truck carrying about 8,500 gallons of gasoline was westbound to an Ohio destination.

Carl DeFebo, a Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman, said the tanker crashed into a guide rail and rolled down the embankment, flipping over.

“We don’t know why the crash happened,” DeFebo said.

The driver wasn’t injured, and no other vehicles were involved, he said.

Melcer estimated that 3,000 gallons of the gas spilled.

The turnpike was shut down in both directions for a few hours before eastbound lanes reopened.

“There’s a small stream that runs along the turnpike into Little Beaver Creek,” Melcer said.

Crews put down absorbent material to try to collect as much of the gas as possible.

The other hazard was the possibility of an explosion because of gas vapors. While the truck was uprighted and its cargo removed and put into another tanker, crews used foam to suppress the vapors, Melcer said.

The potential for an explosion is why the turnpike was shut down, DeFebo said.

“Even though the tanker was off the road, we couldn’t compromise the safety of our responders or our customers by vehicles driving through with the potential for a cataclysmic-type event,” he said.

One westbound lane reopened by early evening.

DeFebo said that the company contracted by the Pennsylvania Turnpike for environmental issues or problems remained at the scene late Saturday, and their work was likely to continue for at least a few more days.

Crews also worked Saturday to repair the guide rail, he said. That work may necessitate a future closure of the turnpike because the truck damaged a significant length of the rail.

“We’re trying to avoid that for [today] or Monday because they are such busy traffic days,” the spokesman said.