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711 ramp cleanup may cost $1 million
YOUNGSTOWN
It will be weeks before the total cost to clean up a tanker spill is known, but Mahoning County’s emergency management director said Thursday considering the scope of the spill and numerous agencies involved, the bill could reach $1 million.
“Hopefully, I’m wrong, but having been through this and knowing the size and circumstance of it, I’m comfortable saying it could reach $1 million,” said director Clark A. Jones.
“I’m sure the bill will be up there. It usually takes a week or 10 days, and then they will get to the all aspects of what we’re billing for, take it to the county commissioners and make sure it is appropriate,” he continued.
Jones said the many agencies that responded, including county HazMat team, county sheriff’s office and city police and fire departments will have to analyze their expenses in time and personnel.
In the case of HazMat, responders worked four or five hours on-scene and used “an inordinate amount of equipment on the river,” Jones said.
The overturned truck belongs to Sines Inc. of Painesville, and the driver was Albert Allen Jr., 48, of New Vienna, Ohio, police said. Detectives have said Allen, who was released Thursday from St. Elizabeth Health Center, likely will be cited with a minor misdemeanor.
The I-680 southbound ramp to state Route 711 reopened about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. It was the last ramp to be reopened after the spill.
The Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 released updated crash information for the I-680 southbound ramp to 711.
From 2006 to 2011, there were 12 crashes, and all but one were “fixed-object crashes — where a vehicle runs off the road and hits an object,” said Justin Chesnic, ODOT District 4 spokesman.
The other accident was a roll-over, he said.
Of the 12, only two had any reported injuries and the accidents’ causes were “attributed to speed,” Chesnic said.
In the same time period, 18 crashes occurred on the 711 southbound ramp to I-680 southbound. Fourteen of the accidents were considered fixed-object crashes, two were overturned vehicles, one was a sideswipe, and the other was a noncollision accident, he said.
Of those 18 crashes, four caused injuries, Chesnic said.
ODOT is planning to add caution signs on the 711 connector on-ramp from Interstate 680 in coming weeks, either with a speed limit or with the symbol of a truck tipping over, he added.
In 2007, the city and county received payments relating to a March 29, 2006, tanker accident at the interchange that spilled 8,000 gallons of gasoline.
That truck was operated by Wolf’s Run Transport, Irving, N.Y., and a $12,250 total payment for HazMat services was received in September 2007. The company’s insurance agency paid $50,000 to Youngstown to pay for police and fire overtime and other city services.