Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 25, 1993 TAG: 9306250037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN and DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At one point, northbound traffic had to be rerouted into one of the southbound lanes. By 4 p.m., both the north and southbound lanes were open to traffic.
Environmental Options, a Rocky Mount firm, was called in to clean up soil that had been contaminated from a small diesel-fuel spill.
Emergency workers were helping clear away beer that had scattered.
About 150 Apco customers were without power for several hours. Electricity had been restored to all by noon.
The driver of the truck, whose name was unavailable from state police, was treated at Franklin Memorial Hospital and released. The Virginia Department of Transportation said the driver suffered bruised ribs.
Claude Webster, deputy director of operations at Franklin County Department of Public Safety, said 756 cases of beer were spilled about 100 yards north of Maggodee Creek, which runs through Boones Mill.
Witnesses said the truck, which was coming from the Miller Beer brewery in Eden, N.C., appeared to have drifted off the side of the road shortly before 7 a.m. The driver said a front wheel went the pavement before he veered off the road.
State transportation officials said the twisting highway, which is notorious for truck accidents, played no part in Thursday's crash. They attributed the accident to "driver inattentiveness."
Webster said the saddle tanks, which carry diesel fuel, ruptured in the wreck, which destroyed the rig. Webster said about 30 to 40 gallons of diesel fuel spilled.
"Traffic was backed up about four miles from the accident," Webster said. "It was just a mess with our rush-hour traffic."
Doug Beatty, resident engineer for the Department of Transportation, took the loss of the beer personally.
"It made me cry at first," he said. "It was my brand, too."
After a day of battling a clogged road and simmering beer, Beatty's taste had been altered.
"I'm so sick of smelling beer that I don't even want one anymore," he said.
Still, 150 cases of beer were salvaged. The broken remnants of the rest were hauled away by front-end loaders.
by CNB