Chlorine Spill Closes I-80 for 8 1/2 Hours

A chlorine spill closed Interstate 80 for 8 1/2 hours Friday, snarling traffic in the Sierra Nevada and contributing to a pileup that injured eight people.

Authorities closed I-80 three miles east of Colfax about 5:30 a.m. after a truck driver discovered that his 4,800-gallon tanker was leaking chlorine on the freeway.

“What he saw was something that looked like his wheels might be smoking,” said Anita Yoder, spokeswoman for the Placer County Office of Emergency Services.

Yoder said 120 to 150 gallons spilled from a hole about the size of a silver dollar, but most of the chlorine was captured by a basin underneath the tanker.

The spilled chlorine, in concentrations similar to household bleach, did not pose a health threat or cause environmental damage, she said.

However, that section of the freeway--between Sacramento and Truckee near Lake Tahoe--was closed as a precaution while emergency workers transferred the remaining chlorine into another tanker, she said. The freeway reopened about 2 p.m.

Despite detours around the spill, I-80 traffic backed up for four to five miles in both directions.

About 10:30 a.m., two cars pulling trailers came around a corner too fast and within seconds of each other smashed into stalled westbound traffic, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jim Leonard.

Eight people were hospitalized with injuries, none of them life-threatening, he said. Eight cars were involved in the crash.