COSTA MESA : Powder Spill Puts Traffic in Squeeze

Thousands of southbound commuters on the San Diego Freeway stewed in morning traffic Tuesday after a 50-pound bag of hydrated lime burst open on the highway near John Wayne Airport.

With only the car-pool lane and the far right-hand lane opened to traffic, cars backed up five miles from the site of the spill at the MacArthur exit. The corrosive substance apparently fell from the back of an unidentified truck, California Highway Patrol officials said.

“It was all over the roadway,” Officer Diana Corrales said.

The 8:45 a.m. mishap added one or two hours to most people’s commute and resulted in a second day of frustration at the airport, where thousands of passengers had been stranded Monday after a paving project went awry.

“Normally, we like to pride ourselves on being an easy-in, easy-out airport, but today we weren’t easy-in,” said Pat Walsh, a spokeswoman for the airport. “It seems like there’s a lot of odd things going on right now.”

The airport nearly shut down Monday when a new coat of asphalt failed to stick to the runway surface during a routine maintenance operation.

Although only a few passengers missed their flights Tuesday, many were forced to make a mad dash through the airport to catch their plane, airline representatives said.

“One person came in here and said, ‘Whew, we made it,”’ said Pat Casanares, a ticket agent for Continental Airlines. “A few people had to rush in but they were fine. Everything was on time for us.”

Workers specializing in the cleanup of hazardous materials were on the scene by about 10:30 a.m. and had the spill cleared within an hour. Two technicians wearing protective suits and respirator masks to protect their lungs shoveled the white, powdery substance into a 55-gallon drum to be taken to a dump site.

Hydrated lime is used to make concrete and can burn human skin and corrode asphalt. No accidents resulted from the incident and no one was taken to the hospital, CHP officials said.