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PENNSVILLE, N.J. – A chemical leak stopped the Delaware Memorial Bridge Sunday night, back and forth, traffic on one of the main east coast arteries stopped during one of the busiest days of the year. The chemical involved is ethylene oxide, a highly flammable gas that is a finished product derived from methanol, according to a manager. The leak does not appear toxic, but the incident is considered a dangerous situation, reports CBS Philadelphia.
The leak comes from Delaware's Croda Atlas Point chemical production plant, located near the two suspension bridges on a main road between Washington and New York, said George Greenley, Holloway Terrace Fire's public communications officer. Company.
"If this canal had a source of ignition, the traffic on the bridge could have been catastrophic," he said.
The bridge closed around 17 hours Sunday. Croda's operators have called for its closure, tweeted the Delaware River and the Bay Authority.
Greenley said the fire department officials were waiting for the pressure to dissipate in the pipes of the facility before reopening the bridge. He added that the chemicals were dissipating fairly quickly from the pipes and felt that the bridge could reopen in the next few hours. The Natural Resources and Environmental Control Division of the state is on site at the time of the leak.
Croda Atlas Point confirmed the incident in a statement to CBS Philly on Sunday: "We can confirm that an ethylene oxide release occurred at our New Castle Delaware plant around 4:15 pm Today, at this early stage, we have not yet received any information regarding the details of this incident.There is no reportable injury, but as a precaution, road traffic near site has been stopped. "
Traffic on both sides of the bridge was diverted to other crossings, including the Commodore Barry Bridge to the north, causing what authorities termed "parking" to disperse on other clogged roads.
The bridge carries Interstate 295 over eight lanes over the broad south arm of the Delaware River, between northern Delaware and southern New Jersey. Traffic from the New Jersey Turnpike southbound also crosses it. More than 80,000 vehicles travel daily, according to the authorities.
The Delaware Memorial Bridge was closed due to a gas leak from a nearby chemical production facility, visible at the bottom right of the photo, on Sunday, November 25, 2018.
NNS / WPVI-TV
Lashrecse Aird, a member of Virginia's House of Delegates, was stuck in traffic on the deck as she was returning home to Virginia from New York. The Thanksgiving ride usually takes her six hours, but she was already on the road for so long and her GPS told her that she had more than three hours to go.
A police vehicle and a truck of hazardous materials were blocking the bridge when she approached. She was off for an hour before she was reoriented, she said.
"We ended up taking Route 295 North to Route 322, heading for Barry Bridge," she said. "And that will take us south, everyone comes in that direction, so we're still not moving."
Chantee Lans, CBS Philly reporter tweeted a video showing traffic jammed for miles on the north side of I-495.
