Feb. 02--
A tractor-trailer careened off Interstate 81 in Botetourt County at about 2 a.m. today, spilling a toxic chemical that displaced nearby residents and closed the highway for more than 12 hours.
Cars and trucks lined up for more than eight miles in each direction from the crash just north of Buchanan, at mile marker 167.6, while a hazmat team cleaned the spill and transportation crews redirected traffic to nearby U.S. 11. One lane had reopened in each direction by late afternoon.
The truck's driver, Wayne Richie Kratzer, 51, of Mifflintown, Pa., was killed, police said. No other injuries were reported. A cause of the crash was not immediately determined.
The northbound tractor owned by YRC Freight, formerly known as Yellow Freight, roared through the left-side guard rail and overturned in the median just minutes past 2 a.m., said Virginia State Police Sgt. Rob Carpentieri. It was hauling two trailers containing nearly two dozen 30-gallon barrels of thioglycolate.
When the tractor overturned, one of the trailers tumbled onto the south lanes, and a southbound trailer crashed into it, Carpentieri said. Three barrels burst, sending the liquid onto the median. The second driver was apparently not hurt and was not taken to a hospital.
As dozens of firefighters from nearby jurisdictions responded, the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office sent an automated emergency message to residents within a half-mile of the crash, telling them to evacuate because of the spilled chemical. They were allowed home by 7:45 a.m.
Kratzer was trapped in his cabin while firefighters determined it was safe to approach and remove him from the trailer, Carpentieri said. He was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, and police later said he had died.
Most of the motorists left in limbo by the wreck were people such as David Dominguez, a tractor-trailer driver of 15 years who was scheduled to deliver a load of six-inch pipes to Burlington, N.J., by 9 a.m. He said other drivers speculated about the crash over CB radios almost immediately after it happened.
"They were saying all sorts of things," said Dominguez, a Compton, Calif., native. "This is the first time I've been stuck in a completely closed interstate like this."
Wrecks on I-81 are more common on the roughly five-mile stretch were it curves near Buchanan, between mile markers 167 and 172, than in most of the highway's reaches through Virginia, said John Manspile, retired chief of the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department.
"Most of it is because of driver inattention, and the fact that this is a really curvy stretch of road," Manspile said. "There are too many curves, and I think that's the problem."
For updates on the I-81 detour, visit www.511Virginia.org or dial 511.
Copyright 2012 - The Roanoke Times, Va.
