Truck crash closes Route 4 in Woodstock
11:38 a.m.
|
|
A Price Chopper truck leans toward the Ottauquechee River along Route 4 in Woodstock closing the highway for most of the morning. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
Toolbox
Staff Report - Published: July 2, 2009
A tractor-trailer crash at about 5:30 a.m. on Route 4 between Woodstock and Bridgewater closed the road to traffic.
The road remains closed but Larry Dodge, dispatcher for the Agency of Transportation, said he expected one lane of the road would be reopened by early afternoon and both lanes should be open by the end of the day after the damaged guardrail had been repaired.
The driver was not seriously injured in the one-vehicle crash, police at the scene said, but the recovery of the truck, which was carrying produce, was hampered because it was leaning toward the fast-flowing Ottauquechee River.
Dodge said a fuel tank on the big rig was ruptured in the crash but it was not known how much fuel might have spilled. A crew from the Agency of Natural Resources was working to contain the spill. It is not clear if any of the fuel made its way into the river.
Rescue crews said they stopped one attempt to pull out the truck which was stuck on the guardrail after it leaned too far towards the river.
Another tow truck arrived and a chain attached was attached to the top of the truck to stabalize it from falling into the river.
Traffic was diverted in Bridgewater and in Woodstock onto dirt roads around the crash. At least one of the vehicles detoured around the crash site ran off the road into an 8-foot deep ravine alongside the road and emergency services were on scene this morning.
Woodstock Police, Vermont State Police, the Agency of Transportation, Agency of Natural Resources, and private recovery crews were on the scene this morning.
29