Traffic on a large stretch of Interstate 95 — one of Maryland's busiest arteries — was brought to a standstill for several hours on Tuesday after a morning crash left a tanker truck overturned and hundreds of gallons of fuel spewed across the roadway.
The incident, which occurred in the highway's southbound lanes about 10:25 a.m., closed the highway in both directions and caused miles-long backups.
The final two southbound lanes didn't reopen until nearly 7 p.m. Two other lanes had opened a few hours earlier, with the northbound lanes opening prior to that.
According to Maryland State Police, the accident involved the truck and three other vehicles.
One driver, Christopher W. Rhodes, 23, of the 9600 block of Coronet Court in Laurel, has been charged with following too closely, unsafe lane change, failure to control speed to avoid a collision, and reckless driving contributing to a collision, police said.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police said Rhodes was traveling southbound in a Ford Focus when he "abruptly changed lanes" and struck the back of a Chevrolet Malibu being driven by Jamie R. Smith, 34, of the 3500 block of Churchville Road in Aberdeen.
The driver of the tanker truck, identified as William P. Gorman, 32, of the 4000 block of Ridge Road in Westminster, attempted to avoid both cars but struck the rear of the Focus and overturned, police said.
As it overturned, the truck "side swiped" a Nissan Altima driven by Ryan S. Keyser, 24, of the 10900 block of Baskerville Road in Reisterstown.
That truck came to rest across all lanes of southbound I-95.
Police said Rhodes, Gorman, and Keyser all refused medical treatment at the scene. Smith was transported by Prince George's County emergency personnel to Laurel Regional Hospital.
County officials described the injuries as minor, but did not provide specifics.
The tanker had been cleared from the scene as of 3 p.m., though the clean up of about 800 gallons of spilled fuel continued well into the evening.
The Maryland Department of the Environment and Prince George's County hazmat crews led the clean-up.
Jay Apperson, a MDE spokesman, said most of the fuel in the tanker was able to be offloaded into another tanker.
An additional 450 gallons of 800 gallons spilled were captured in drums, Apperson said, and the remaining fuel was trapped with absorbent material spread on the roadway.
"The fire department personnel did a very good job of preventing the fuel from entering the storm drains" and keeping it on the road's surface for clean-up, Apperson said.
The truck involved was labeled as belonging to the company Petro Express, according to images released by first responders at the scene.
A call to the company's offices on Chesapeake Avenue in Baltimore was not returned.
State police said their investigation into the accident is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call police at 301-345-3101.
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