Gas Spilled in Tanker Crash Creates Travel Nightmare : Roads: Morning commute is snarled for miles when a freeway ramp near Carson is closed for cleanup efforts.

A tanker truck going too fast on a freeway transition ramp overturned and spilled 7,000 gallons of gasoline, setting up a traffic nightmare for Wednesday morning commuters, authorities said.

The accident itself occurred about 11:10 p.m. Tuesday when the truck, owned by Spark Oil of Santa Fe Springs, overturned on the ramp connecting the southbound Harbor Freeway to the northbound San Diego Freeway near Carson, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Most of the gasoline flowed from the vehicle to a storm water catch basin about a quarter of a mile away, although some spilled into Dominguez Channel, where officials contained it with booms.

The spill created headaches for commuters until about 8:35 a.m.

“Basically, it totally eliminated some people’s normal route to work,” said CHP spokesman Todd Sturges. “The area was backed up for miles. We tried to put the word out early and had message signs activated, but unfortunately the traffic reports don’t reach everybody.”

The CHP has not determined the speed of the truck, but it exceeded the 40 m.p.h. suggested for the transition ramp, Sturges said, and authorities are considering charging the driver with traveling at an unsafe speed. In addition, an inspection of the truck found that a brake on the rear right axle was out of adjustment and contributed to the accident, he said.

The gas spill posed environmental and safety problems because it could have ignited as it flowed over the highway, said Gerald Munoz, supervising hazardous materials specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. More gas also could have poured into the Dominguez Channel, polluting those waters and flowing to Los Angeles Harbor, he said.

“We were very, very lucky that at the time of the spill the tide was coming in, because it helped us contain the spill to one area,” Munoz said.

“We figure that 95% of the spilled materials are still in the catch basin, while some did get in the channel,” he said. “But I’d estimate (the gasoline in the channel) covers only about an eighth of a mile of the river.”

Munoz also credited the containment to quick response by agencies ranging from Los Angeles police to the California Fish and Game Department. City and county teams remained at the site Wednesday afternoon, siphoning gasoline from the overturned tanker into another truck and recovering the spilled gas from the area.