Brothers, Ore. — It took Oregon State Patrol two days to get traffic running normally on Highway 20E east of here after a tanker truck carrying about 46,000 pounds of liquid urea fertilizer crashed and overturned on April 18. According to state troopers, the commercial truck pulling a tanker trailer loaded with the fertilizer was eastbound early in the evening when it drifted onto the gravel shoulder. After a complete highway closure for about two hours, one lane was opened for traffic when it was determined safe for motorists to travel through the area. The driver, who was later cited for failure to maintain a lane of travel, lost control, and his load eventually rolled at least once before coming to rest along the shoulder. Press reports stated that he was driving for Sherman Brothers, a trucking firm based in Harrisburg, Ore. Tom Kichenmaster with SMAF Environmental, a hazardous materials company in Prineville that handled the cleanup, said 150 gallons or so of the fertilizer load leaked from an opening in the tanker and had to be removed with the soil and hauled to a landfill. He said the main part was pumped into another tanker and hauled away.
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