ROSEBURG, Ore. (KMTR) -- Officials responded to a semi-truck crash on Interstate 5 South Wednesday night at about 10:00 PM. It happened just five miles south of Roseburg.
The semi was pulling two tanker trailers holding Casco resin, an adhesive used in plywood.
Officials say the truck drifted into the median for no apparent reason. The semi then tipped onto its right side.
The driver suffered severe head injuries and a collapsed lung. He was taken to Mercy Medical Center and then transported to Sacred Heart in Springfield for further treatment.
An estimated 6,500 gallons of resin was dumped onto the median. ODOT crews, along with Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality, were still on site Thursday trying to clean up the mess.
“We had to close down a lane which that lane closure is still in effect, due to the clean up,” say Chris Hunter, Assistant Manager for District 7’s ODOT.
“So we're out there currently - we have DEQ, First Strike, some other folks out there helping oversee that clean up, to make sure we get all the material that was spilled, cleaned up and hauled away so we don't have an environmental contamination issue.”
Hunter says they opened the lane up at about 5 PM Thursday evening, but they aren’t done with clean up just yet. They do plan to close that lane again Friday; they just wanted to open it up Thursday during the peak traffic hours. They're hoping to complete the clean up in full by Friday evening.
Hunter says spills are always difficult to clean up, especially when the material is liquid. Workers had to mix the resin with sand and dirt Thursday before they could transport it from the area.
