Truck mishap closes highway 7 hours
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A Price Chopper truck leans toward the Ottauquechee River along Route 4 in Woodstock on Thursday morning, closing the highway for seven hours. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: July 3, 2009
BRIDGEWATER — A tractor-trailer closed Route 4 for about seven hours Thursday after it nearly entered the Ottauquechee River.
Around 5 a.m., the Woodstock Fire Department received a call that a Price Chopper truck was leaning against the guardrail separating the eastbound lane of traffic and the river below, said Chief Butch Sutherland.
"The guy said a deer was standing in the road and he tried to avoid it," Sutherland said.
The truck ended up leaning precariously against the guardrail, and the crash ruptured the vehicle's gas tank, spilling between 60 and 80 gallons of fuel, Sutherland said.
Larry Dodge, a dispatcher for the Agency of Transportation, said a cleanup team from the Agency of Natural Resources had responded to the scene to deal with the fuel spill.
The crash affected east- and westbound traffic, which at first was backed up for nearly a mile in either direction before Windsor County sheriffs and Woodstock firefighters detoured traffic on a series of back roads north of Route 4. The detour itself presented its own problems for motorists, some of whom were towing boats and pop-up campers in anticipation of the holiday weekend.
"I know they had some problems up there with the slick roads," Sutherland said, and the dirt roads became slick with mud from the continual rain and sent one sport utility vehicle into a ditch at the intersection of North Bridgewater and Cox District roads.
By 11:45 a.m., the truck had been removed and alternating one-lane traffic was moving along the westbound lane and Agency of Transportation workers patched the damaged guardrail.
Because the truck was a commercial vehicle, Woodstock Police referred the investigation to Department of Motor Vehicle Enforcement. DMV Enforcement officials could not be reached Thursday and it is unclear what charges, if any, the driver will face.
"He's darn lucky to be alive," Sutherland said.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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