San Jose, Calif.-A busy California state highway was blocked in both directions for hours and the driver suffered serious injuries when an 18-wheel tanker truck carrying 6,400 gallons of liquid nitrogen solution tipped over late on Nov. 20. The crash, which is still under investigation, occurred at about 7:30 p.m. and spilled about 50 gallons of diesel fuel, but only a small amount of nitrogen solution escaped from the tank. The spilled fuel was cleaned up relatively quickly, but it took personnel much longer to upright the tanker, which was on its side. “There was a release of nitrogen from the relief valve as the incident progressed,” San Jose Fire Department Capt. Chuck Rangel advised Green Markets. “The product was offloaded to another tank car before it was up righted by two heavy duty tow units.” Rangel said the driver was initially trapped inside the truck cab and was eventually freed from the vehicle and transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was still conscious at the time. According to California Highway Patrol, traffic on Highway 237 was backed up for up to a mile in both directions and eventually diverted onto the Great America Parkway off-ramp while the road was being cleared. The two left lanes were opened at about 3 a.m., and all lanes were operating about 20 minutes later.
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