Traffic at the Massaponax interchange of U.S. 1 and Interstate 95 grinds to a halt as vehicles are detoured off southbound I-95 away from the site where three tractor-trailers collided yesterday. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

LEFT: Michael Powell of Powell's Towing rinses off in a shower set up on I-95 south of Massaponax yesterday afternoon. Powell was called to the scene of the hazardous-material spill in the highway's southbound lanes to help remove the tractor-trailers that collided early yesterday. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

TOP: Caroline County truck driver Jessie Starks sits in traffic yesterday afternoon on southbound U.S. 1 as local roads grew congested after the accident shut down I-95. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

State Trooper M. W. Dailey, wearing a hazmat suit, uses a tool to measure distances at the Interstate 95 accident scene where three tractor-trailers collided near Thornburg early yesterday. The crash ruptured several containers in the truck behind Dailey, spilling herbicide and closing I-95 for many hours. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Crews work to clean up the site on southbound Interstate 95 where three tractor-trailers collided early yesterday, spilling a chemical and crippling traffic in the region all day. One truck driver was killed. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Massive tractor-trailer accident on I-95 south kills truck driver, snarls traffic for many miles around

Date published: 7/8/2005

By BILL FREEHLING

A tractor-trailer carrying hazardous materials crashed in Spotsylvania County early yesterday, killing its driver, closing southbound Interstate 95 near Massaponax and paralyzing the region for about 24 hours.

All three lanes of I-95 south were closed all day between Exits 118 and 126. Officials hoped to re-open the road between midnight and 2 a.m. today.

Between 500 and 1,000 gallons of toxic herbicide spilled when the truck crashed into another about 1 a.m. at the highway's 122-mile marker, police said.

The collision and chemical spill sent nearly a dozen people to the hospital.

The accident occurred when three tractor-trailers traveling south in the right lane came upon a work zone, said Sgt. Les Tyler of the Virginia State Police.

The first tractor-trailer, driven by 57-year-old Baltimore resident George L. Mathews, stopped. So did the second, driven by Vladimir L. Karmanov, a 36-year-old from Quebec, Canada.

The third tractor-trailer crashed into the second, which hit the first. The rig was carrying 14 tanks that held 275 gallons each of the chemical. Three to five of the tanks burst, Tyler said.

The driver, 41-year-old Neil C. Irelan of Conway, Ark., died at the scene. He would have turned 42 today, Tyler said.

Mathews and Karmanov were treated and released at Mary Washington Hospital, police said.

Tyler said two state troopers and about six to eight rescue-squad workers were exposed to the chemical and taken to the hospital.

Many people cleaning up the chemical were sprayed down at the scene in showers that were set up for that purpose. Workers drank Gatorade and were treated by medics in a makeshift tent. A portable restroom was brought to the site.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality asked the state Department of Transportation to mill and repave the contaminated asphalt on all three southbound lanes of I-95.

VDOT spokeswoman Tina Bundy said crews couldn't begin work until the chemicals and truck wreckage were removed from the road about 9 p.m.

"It's going very slow," she said at 10:30 p.m. Rain was hampering the operation, but VDOT hoped to have one lane re-paved and open by midnight, she said.

Crews were working to replace about 200 yards of pavement that stretched across both shoulders and three southbound lanes. Bundy said they would mill as far down as the chemicals had seeped.

Things were much different on the other side of the interstate. Two northbound lanes had reopened by about 6:30 a.m. yesterday. The third northbound lane reopened about 5:30 p.m., Bundy said.

The accident created a traffic nightmare that afflicted the region's major and minor roads.

Bundy said northbound I-95 traffic was slow-moving all day as people gazed at the wreckage. In the afternoon, motorists were backed up seven miles to the south of the wreck site.

Date published: 7/8/2005