It’s been a complicated week for American highways. On Tuesday, a semi-truck in Tennessee spilled jars of alfredo sauce onto multiple lanes, causing all sorts of chaos and creating a tough cleanup. The day before, a truck in California crashed into a freeway median, scattering more than 150,000 tomatoes across several lanes of busy Interstate 80.
The tomato spill happened early Monday morning in Vacaville, Calif., when the truck carrying the fruit collided with a vehicle. According The New York Timesthe truck struck another vehicle before colliding with the median causing the tomatoes to flip into the oncoming lanes.
Unsuspecting drivers drove through the spill, crushing the fruit into a slippery paste that sent cars spinning out of control. Several vehicles were involved in collisions related to the spill. California Highway Patrol officer Jason Tyhurst told the publication that the truck driver and two other people suffered minor injuries in the incident. A fourth person broke his leg. Tyhurst said the incident could easily have caused a death.
The accident forced the California Highway Patrol to close the freeway in both directions for several hours. According to Los Angeles Times, the tomatoes were cleared from the eastbound lanes at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, more than six hours after the crash. Crews used absorbent powder to clean up the mixture of greasy dirt, tomatoes and oil. However, a westbound lane remained closed until about 3 p.m. while cleanup crews worked to remove the tractor-trailer.
Solano County, where the accident happened, is a major tomato grower, and the California Highway Patrol handled other spills. However, Tyhurst told the NY Times that they usually occur on the roads less traveled in the region.
The Tennessee incident resulted in no injuries, but the oily sauce also caused slippery road conditions. There’s been no shortage of weird spills over the years, with beer, sardines, skittles, dead Pool comic books and printer ink all ending up strewn across the road. These are weird, messy cleanups.
It’s been a complicated week for American highways. On Tuesday, a semi-truck in Tennessee spilled jars of alfredo sauce onto multiple lanes, causing all sorts of chaos and creating a tough cleanup. The day before, a truck in California crashed into a freeway median, scattering more than 150,000 tomatoes across several lanes of busy Interstate 80.
The tomato spill happened early Monday morning in Vacaville, Calif., when the truck carrying the fruit collided with a vehicle. According The New York Timesthe truck struck another vehicle before colliding with the median causing the tomatoes to flip into the oncoming lanes.
Unsuspecting drivers drove through the spill, crushing the fruit into a slippery paste that sent cars spinning out of control. Several vehicles were involved in collisions related to the spill. California Highway Patrol officer Jason Tyhurst told the publication that the truck driver and two other people suffered minor injuries in the incident. A fourth person broke his leg. Tyhurst said the incident could easily have caused a death.
The accident forced the California Highway Patrol to close the freeway in both directions for several hours. According to Los Angeles Times, the tomatoes were cleared from the eastbound lanes at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, more than six hours after the crash. Crews used absorbent powder to clean up the mixture of greasy dirt, tomatoes and oil. However, a westbound lane remained closed until about 3 p.m. while cleanup crews worked to remove the tractor-trailer.
Solano County, where the accident happened, is a major tomato grower, and the California Highway Patrol handled other spills. However, Tyhurst told the NY Times that they usually occur on the roads less traveled in the region.
The Tennessee incident resulted in no injuries, but the oily sauce also caused slippery road conditions. There’s been no shortage of weird spills over the years, with beer, sardines, skittles, dead Pool comic books and printer ink all ending up strewn across the road. These are weird, messy cleanups.
