Big-rig wreck shuts down Texas 29
BURNET — County and state officials shut down a portion of Texas 29 between Burnet and Lake Buchanan for more than seven hours Friday after an 18-wheeler flipped on its side, spilling several hundred pounds of explosive chemicals onto the roadway.
No one was injured in the accident, which occurred after the tractor-trailer rig belonging to the Austin Powder Co. blew a tire, Texas Department of Transportation spokesman John Hurt said.
“Injury-wise, there was nothing serious,” Hurt said. “The accident didn’t involve another vehicle, and the truck actually ended up pretty well off the roadway sitting on its side. It was the truck’s contents that were the biggest problem.”
Hurt said the truck’s trailer was filled with ammonium nitrate powder, a potentially explosive compound frequently used in fertilizers and in mining operations. Hurt said the truck was bound for a quarry in Brady, adding that the driver was also carrying several blasting caps in addition to the explosives.
“That was probably the biggest concern, to make sure the blasting caps didn’t ignite the entire load,” he said. “The chemical was the same thing that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing, so we wanted to be extra-careful.”
Members of the Austin Police Department’s bomb squad also were at the scene to monitor the situation, Hurt added.
“They arrived just to make sure the blasting caps didn’t disappear,” he said. “We got them all accounted for.”
Burnet County Judge Donna Klaeger said local and state officials were on the scene shortly after the accident.
“Everybody responded immediately,” she said. “We’re very lucky that although it was a major accident, there were no injuries or hazardous waste danger to the public at all.”
Klaeger said the truck’s driver walked away from the accident.
“He was actually at the scene with us for most of the day helping out,” she said. “The company that owns the truck also came out to make sure everything was taken care of.”
While the spill proved to be a roadblock for local motorists, Klaeger said the accident likely won’t have any lasting environmental effects.
“One of the environmental specialists said the chemical is basically like fertilizer,” she said. “It had the potential to be a major incident, and we were very lucky. I saw the 18-wheeler, and you wouldn’t have recognized that it was actually a truck.”
TxDOT and county crews re-opened 29 late Friday afternoon.
chris@thepicayune.com