It started about 04:30 this morning when a tanker truck carrying highly flammable liquids started the arch-curve on the 4th-tier of Dallas High Five Interchange, one of the busiest in the nation. It was then, that the unthinkable happened. The tanker flipped over on its side up against the barrier wall.
With highly flammable liquids leaking out in humid weather that had not dipped below 80-degrees overnight, it didn't take long for police and fire department to do a unthinkable for a second time this morning and shut down the Dallas High 5 in all directions. Haz-mat crews sprayed foam on the leaking material and an aerial ladder from the department was dispatched to get a stream of cooling water onto the tanker to keep the temperature down and hopefully from exploding. The aerial ladder could reach over the barrier wall of the 4-th tier ramp with not much room to spare, but firemen were able to direct the flow of water from their perch at the top of the ladder onto the tanker.
With the hour of the day prime for morning commuting to be underway, it didn't take long for the back-up of traffic to begin filling all lanes in all four directions. The back-up quickly stretched for not 2 or 3-miles, but 5, then 6, then 7 and nearing 8 going west bound out of Garland and Mesquite into Dallas' major distribution warehouses, package delivery services and DFW and related aviation workers heading into work, not to mention the offices and businesses that are staffed by so many in the Metroplex.
As the morning moved onward with sunrise, rising temperatures and cars idling for hours, not minutes, people stuck and pinned-in with miles of traffic if not in front of them, then certainly, it was miles and miles behind them. Some humor came out of the moment when a food truck stuck in traffic like everyone else, got out and opened up shop right in the center of the High Five at I-635 LBJ and US-75.
When I finished at the pharmacy with some issues with meds, the car just kind of on its own headed down Spring Valley toward 75. A Richardson policeman was picking up cones that he had placed on both sides of his car where he had been blocking the entrance to the service road going toward the High Five. With that almost like a green light, I headed to ground zero. Parking in my favorite spot at the high five, I had a good view of the wrecker with the tanker in tow and the Ha
z-mat crews there to begin even more clean up. Tonight at 10:30, 18-hours later, the crews are still cleaning up where the material had leaked down over three more tiers of roadway.
The design of the High Five was not at fault. Nor was the problems from a shut-down. It's one of those things with many, many variables that had to come together for another day like this one in Dallas Traffic.Tonight, the High Five is doing what it was designed to d0, move traffic.
With highly flammable liquids leaking out in humid weather that had not dipped below 80-degrees overnight, it didn't take long for police and fire department to do a unthinkable for a second time this morning and shut down the Dallas High 5 in all directions. Haz-mat crews sprayed foam on the leaking material and an aerial ladder from the department was dispatched to get a stream of cooling water onto the tanker to keep the temperature down and hopefully from exploding. The aerial ladder could reach over the barrier wall of the 4-th tier ramp with not much room to spare, but firemen were able to direct the flow of water from their perch at the top of the ladder onto the tanker.
With the hour of the day prime for morning commuting to be underway, it didn't take long for the back-up of traffic to begin filling all lanes in all four directions. The back-up quickly stretched for not 2 or 3-miles, but 5, then 6, then 7 and nearing 8 going west bound out of Garland and Mesquite into Dallas' major distribution warehouses, package delivery services and DFW and related aviation workers heading into work, not to mention the offices and businesses that are staffed by so many in the Metroplex.
As the morning moved onward with sunrise, rising temperatures and cars idling for hours, not minutes, people stuck and pinned-in with miles of traffic if not in front of them, then certainly, it was miles and miles behind them. Some humor came out of the moment when a food truck stuck in traffic like everyone else, got out and opened up shop right in the center of the High Five at I-635 LBJ and US-75.
When I finished at the pharmacy with some issues with meds, the car just kind of on its own headed down Spring Valley toward 75. A Richardson policeman was picking up cones that he had placed on both sides of his car where he had been blocking the entrance to the service road going toward the High Five. With that almost like a green light, I headed to ground zero. Parking in my favorite spot at the high five, I had a good view of the wrecker with the tanker in tow and the Ha
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| Wrecker with tanker in tow |
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| Haz-mat crew |
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| The accident was on the 4th tier. The green colums support tier 5 above. There are level 3 and 2 below with level 1 being grade. There are also Express Lanes and HOVs up there, too! |
The design of the High Five was not at fault. Nor was the problems from a shut-down. It's one of those things with many, many variables that had to come together for another day like this one in Dallas Traffic.Tonight, the High Five is doing what it was designed to d0, move traffic.
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