BEAVERDAM — A tanker carrying liquid asphalt overtuned Thursday on U.S. Route 30 near the Interstate 75 interchange spilling its cargo.
A 2013 Western Star tractor driven by Robert D. Bridges Jr., 34, of Emlenton, Pennsylvania, overturned on U.S. 30 near the I-75 exit in Richland Township.
The tanker was carrying 5,600 gallons of liquid asphalt. The entire contents were released along the roadside. The Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was called to the scene to organize cleanup operations. Environmental Remediation Services, out of Bowling Green, was heading the cleanup.
According to Tom Berger, director of the Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the goal for the cleanup was to be completed by Monday evening or Tuesday morning at the latest.
Bridges was standing outside his tractor-trailer when troopers arrived. He was able to make a statement, although he was unclear about how the accident happened.
He was taken to Lima Memorial Health System where he was listed in fair condition late Monday.
“This is the same area that has a big curve and, at least in the last three or four months, we have had three or four other ones flip over there. They go off the right side where it curves left. It’s a pretty hardcore curve, then they go off the right side and then it’s like a steep hill they roll down or overturn and go down into the guy’s field. There are so many marks there, other ones have done the same thing,” said Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Alec Coil. “I was not at the scene, but I am familiar with this area.”
Bridges was cited for failure to control.
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