Cancelled classes, closed roadways and citywide bumper-to-bumper traffic. It wasn’t a hurricane evacuation, but a cyclone of mayhem swept through the city Wednesday after law enforcement officials indefinitely shut down Interstate 10 in both directions from the junction at Interstate 12 to Siegen Lane. At 3:45 a.m., a passenger vehicle overturned on I-10 eastbound near Essen Lane, forcing a tanker behind it filled with nearly 9,000 gallons of isobutane to abruptly stop. A semi truck transporting beer then rear-ended the tanker, causing its valve system to burst and begin leaking the flammable, propane-like vapor, said Curt Monte, assistant public information officer for Baton Rouge Fire Department. All lanes of I-10 will remain closed until hazardous material removal crews can figure out how to either remove or transport whatever remains of the 8,700 gallons of isobutane that were still leaking out of the wrecked tanker as of Wednesday afternoon, said Trooper Russell Graham of LSP. The driver of the beer truck and the passenger were taken to a hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries, said Cpl. L’ Jean McKneely of Baton Rouge Police Department. Traffic overflowed onto Nicholson Drive, Highland Road and Burbank Drive, stranding drivers for hours as students and professors missed morning classes. At least three morning classes and one afternoon class were cancelled because professors couldn’t make it to campus on time. “It was a nightmare,” said Biology Professor Adam Hrincevich, who cancelled his morning Biology 1002 class while he was stuck in traffic. “This is the first time in 10 years as a teacher that I’ve had to miss class for being late,” Hrincevich said. He commutes from New Orleans three days a week. He said he exited I-10 onto Highland Road, where traffic crawled all the way to campus. Christopher Gregg, another biology professor, cancelled his morning Biology 1202 class. He left the Shenandoah area and traveled about two miles in two hours before giving up and turning around. “After two hours, I hadn’t gotten anywhere near campus,” said sports administration senior Claire Langlois, who missed all three of her classes Wednesday morning. “It took me one hour to go two miles on Old Hammond Road, and then another hour to get to Citiplace on Corporate [Boulevard].” “Literally a two minute drive took an hour,” said business senior Jackie St. Croix, who was stuck in traffic near Bluebonnet Road and Airline Highway. Mass communication master’s candidate Silvia Medrano turned onto Burbank around 8 a.m. on her way to work and immediately knew something was wrong. All the cars were barely moving. She headed north, turned left onto Gardere Lane and then left onto Nicholson, where she sat in traffic for more than an hour – heading away from campus. “I was going in the opposite direction, which was even weirder,” she said. Once the hazardous material is cleared from the interstate, BRPD will begin investigating the wreck. Essen Lane from United Plaza to 1 Calais Street will also stay closed until the tanker can be removed, BRFD said.
____ Contact Ben Wallace at bwallace at [email protected]