Traffic on US 30 East was held up for some time right around 5 p.m. on Friday due to an overturned semi truck between State Routes 13 and 545, with clean up no easy matter.
“Basically we’re dealing with a food-grade egg mess,” said Lt. Mike Carey with the Mansfield Fire Department. “A lot of scrambled eggs. Couple that with freezing temperatures, and now we’ve got frozen scrambled egg.”
According to Carey, the driver of the semi lost control of his rig and struck the jersey barriers in the center of US 30. A secondary vehicle, a jeep, also rolled onto the barrier. Carey stated the driver of the semi suffered minor injuries and was transported to MedCentral Hospital. No other injuries were reported at the time.
Carey stated that while the objects spilled were eggs, the accident was still treated as hazardous material.
“Hazardous materials could be anything that’s not in its proper container,” he explained. “Even though it’s eggs, it’s still a HAZMAT, we’ve still got to mitigate that and deal with that. So that’s what we’re working with right now.”
The trucking company, which was not identified at the time, is responsible for cleaning up the eggs. Carey stated companies are responsible for their carriers, and usually will hire a commercial company for clean up.
“I don’t know how long Route 30 is going to be closed, obviously we’ve got a mess to clean up,” he said.
