LONDONDERRY — A tanker truck carrying liquid asphalt rolled over on Route 102 Wednesday morning as the driver was leaving Interstate 93 at Exit 4.
The driver was not hurt, but about 25 gallons from the 8,000-gallon tank spilled onto the road, causing state and local officials to close the highway.
Traffic was slowed for hours while crews cleaned up the mess. Fire Capt. Fred Heinrich said it took about four hours to clear the scene.
The tanker, owned by Continental Paving of Londonderry, was turning left onto Route 102 from the northbound side of I-93 when it rolled over just before the bridge.
"The driver probably makes that turn about four times a day in that exact same truck," Heinrich said.
The liquid asphalt in the truck is stored at about 350 degrees. Firefighters used SpeedyDry to absorb as much as of the asphalt as possible while it was liquid. A crew from Continental Paving scraped the rest of the asphalt off the road once it had dried, Heinrich said.
"Within an hour, the liquid was solid rubber," he said.
No cause for the accident has been determined.
Half of the liquid asphalt in the vehicle was pumped out while the truck was on its side. After the tanker was raised back onto its wheels, the rest of the liquid was pumped out into another truck, Heinrich said.
The state Department of Environmental Services also was called to the scene because Route 102 is a state road, Heinrich said.
