YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A stretch of Interstate 680 through Youngstown remained closed until about 9:30 p.m. Thursday after a semi carrying milk crashed Thursday afternoon around 2 p.m., dumping its load all over the road.
At its worst, the scene saw milk crates spilling out of the side of the truck and both lanes were shut down. No one was hurt.
The driver of a Dean Dairy semi filled with gallons, quarts and small cartons of white, chocolate and strawberry milk lost control as he rounded the bend on I-680 southbound, just before the Williamson Avenue exit.
“He was just moving. He felt the trailer start to sway, tipped over. It’s kind of a common thing on some of these ‘s’ curves going through 680 here,” said Youngstown Battalion Chief John Lightly.
The truck came to rest on a concrete wall, some of the milk falling into both lanes and some remaining in the truck. There were black crates and plastic jugs everywhere.
For Lightly, the spilled milk was a concern.
“So the biggest issue… the milk, if it gets into the waterway, there’s a growth medium bacteria that starts to kill marine life and so forth. So the crews did a great job of getting the waterways sealed off. So we don’t think there’s going to be any issue there,” he said.
Still, a crew from First Call Environmental — an emergency spill response company — showed up. Men in white suits could be seen looking over a barrier, checking the area below the road. A backhoe and dumpster were brought in to clean up the mess — the responsibility of which was Ludt’s Towing.
Ludt’s Towing worker Tracey Anderson: “Well, we’ve had like a Burger King spill and stuff like that before so yeah, yeah.”
Reporter Stan Boney: “You’ve done this before?”
Anderson: “Yes.”
Someone from the Ohio Department of Transportation was also inspecting a large concrete trestle that the semi brushed up against before crashing. The trestle was OK.
After it’s all cleaned up, sand will be laid down to absorb the milk.
“A lot of sand. Then sweeping up the sand. We don’t want slippages for the tires on the roadway, especially coming around these corners. So there’s a lot of work,” Lightly said.
There was a representative from Dean Dairy on the scene, but all he would say was that the truckload of milk was headed to another dairy.
Jennifer Rodriguez contributed to this report.