Oregon crews deal with sticky mess after glue truck crash

Photo: UPI

July 20 (UPI) — Oregon Department of Transportation crews responded to a sticky mess at scene of a truck crash in Eugene that spilled 350 gallons of glue onto the road.

The department said an Oak Harbor Freight truck tipped over on an Interstate 105 on-ramp near the Washington Jefferson Street Bridge about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and spilled 250 gallons of a “resin epoxy” — glue intended for use in plywood.

Brian Smith of Eugene-Springfield Fire said the spilled polyurethane glue was being transported along with an activator chemical that, when mixed, turns it into hardened glue.

“It’s sticky and it’s hardening on the pavement,” Kevin Finch, ODOT Transportation Maintenance manager, told KVAL-TV. “We’re struggling to get it off the pavement at this point without using extremely hazardous chemicals.”

The cleanup efforts stretched into Wednesday afternoon, when all lanes of traffic were reopened.

Angela Beers-Seydel, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation’s Region 2 office, said drains in the area were plugged during the cleanup.

“It was determined to be the most environmentally friendly option, least damaging to the existing pavement, and it worked,” Beers-Seydel told The Register-Guard newspaper Wednesday afternoon. “No pavement will need to be replaced. The other option would have been to grind out the pavement and repave [Wednesday night]. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do that.”

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