Highway 99 gas tanker crash snarls Modesto traffic, lanes reopen 14 hours later

A fuel tanker crash early Saturday morning closed Highway 99 both ways and snarled Modesto traffic for more than 14 hours as crews worked to clean up a massive petroleum spill.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the accident was reported at 2:43 a.m. in the southbound lanes of Highway 99 just north of the Carpenter Road and Briggsmore Avenue exit. The gas truck veered off the road onto the shoulder and rolled over at the offramp. When Modesto Fire Department crews arrived on scene, the petroleum rig – which had a double tanker carrying gasoline and diesel fuel – was overturned and gushing its contents onto the roadway.

Northbound Highway 99 was reopened just before 5 p.m. and southbound at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. For more than 14 hours, traffic was diverted southbound at the Beckwith Road/Standiford Avenue exit and northbound at the central Modesto exit.

Modesto Fire Department Battalion Chief Hugo Patino said the driver was alert and able to exit the cabin on his own. He was then attended to by emergency medical technicians and taken to a local hospital. Patino said the driver suffered minor injuries. No other vehicle was involved or other injuries reported. The accident remains under investigation.

Patino estimates about 8,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel spilled onto the roadway and median. Crews from the Modesto Fire Department, the CHP, the California Department of Transportation, trucking company Williams Tank Lines and towing companies were working together at the scene.

“This could have been catastrophic. The fuel could have caught fire and we could have had massive loss of life,” Patino said.

Patino said the majority of the fuel from the double tankers leaked out after the crash. Before removing the tankers from the roadway, the remaining gasoline was drained into waiting oil tankers. By around 2 p.m. both tankers had been loaded onto separate tow trucks.

Fire crews sprayed retardant foam on the leaked fuel, which spread from the offramp, across the southbound lanes of Highway 99, over the median and onto the northbound lanes before pooling at the base of the Briggsmore overpass. Workers vacuumed some of the spilled fuel into hazardous-material tankers. Two engines and a truck from the Fire Department responded to the accident. The aircraft-rescue firefighting engine was called in from Modesto Airport to provide foam and support.

Officials asked for the public’s patience during the cleanup effort. Patino said when hazardous material such as gasoline and diesel is leaked, environmental safety guidelines must be followed for its removal and to test road stability afterward. Caltrans made the call on when the lanes could be reopened after conducting field tests.

“Obviously our intent is to get the traffic and commerce flowing again,” Patino said. “But we cannot do it at the expense of safety.”

The accident backed up traffic through the heart of some of Modesto’s busiest thoroughfares. Lines stretched for miles along Briggsmore Avenue and Carpenter Road, as well as several north and central Modesto roadways as traffic diverted off Highway 99 and onto city surface streets.

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Highway 99 gas tanker crash snarls Modesto traffic, lanes reopen 14 hours later."