A truck lost its load of chicken manure on southbound Highway 99 at Kiernan Avenue in Salida this morning around 7, sparking multi-vehicle accidents, halting traffic and coating the lanes with the brown, thick, slippery, smelly liquid.
One big rig jack-knifed, another car spun out and there were three accidents due to rubber-necking, according to Tom Killian, the California Highway Patrol spokesman for Stanislaus County. One driver suffered a minor injury.
Traffic in the southbound lane was limited to one lane for a little more than three hours. Northbound traffic slowed to a crawl as passers-by looked, leading to one of the accidents. All lanes were open by 10:10 a.m.
According to Killian, the driver of the manure truck, Tommy Lucchetti, 30, of Modesto, got on Highway 99 from the Kiernan Avenue on-ramp in Salida at 6:55 a.m. He began spilling his load at about that point, and more of it in the far right lane as he continued south on 99 for about two miles until he was alerted by a passing motorist near the Beckwith Avenue/Standiford Avenue off-ramp.
Meanwhile, behind him, the big rig driver, Robin Nielsen Sr., 55, of Ripon, was driving on Highway 99 in the No. 3 lane. Ahead of him was a driver in a blue sedan, whose car started to spin out once it hit the sludgy mess. The blue sedan began to spin off the roadway, and anticipating it would re-enter the highway, Nielsen began moving into the middle lane, Killian said. Once he did, he got caught in the slippery mess, and began losing control, sliding into the center divide and jack-knifing.
Speaking right after the accident, Lucchetti said the load was fine at his last stop, and did not know how he could have lost it.
It's unknown just how much dropped, but one driver said it coated all southbound lanes, with the worst of it in the far right lane where car tires basically painted the roadway for a few miles. The driver works in downtown Modesto, and when she got out of her car she said "it still smelled" and that a trip to the car wash would be mandatory.
The California Department of Transportation handled the cleanup with the help of a street sweeper and workers shoveling the sludge to the side of the road. Sand was spread to help with absorption and traction, and motorists are advised to take special care this weekend when the expected rains will make that area of the freeway even slicker.
Killian said Lucchetti was cited for a spilled load and logbook violation. He said the owner of the truck is Joe Homen, president of Snelling-based J.S. Homen Trucking, Inc.
A message was left at his office.
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