A tanker truck carrying 8,000 gallons of gasoline, jackknifed, flipped and exploded on a Route 7 bridge in Ridgefield yesterday afternoon, killing the driver, melting pavement, scorching trees and shutting down a major roadway between Norwalk and Danbury.
According to the Norwalk Advocate, Route 7 may be closed until Saturday between Route 102 in Branchville and Route 35 in Ridgefield:
Ridgefield Police Capt. Stephen Brown said the accident happened at about 3:25 p.m. when, according to an eyewitness, a white sport-utility vehicle pulled out of Simpaug Turnpike and cut in front of the northbound gasoline truck in order to head south on Route 7. The tanker driver swerved, and his truck jackknifed, fell on its side and exploded, killing the driver.
All that remained of the truck last night were its rails and engine block. The tank and cab were incinerated.
The News-Times posted several photos including this onecredited to The News-Times/David W. Harple.
This road gets so much traffic: it's a two lane road that carries 30,000 cars per day. I imagine the SUV driver grew impatient waiting for a gap to turn left, and took a risk. Worked for the SUV driver, just not the tanker driver.
Connecticut likes its road to be backed up. It owns a parallel stretch to build a four lane divided highway, but refuses to do so. So Route 7, the only north-south road in some direction, gets mega traffic as housing prices in lower Fairfield county have really priced most workers out of the market.
Posted by: George Regnery | Friday, July 15, 2005 at 10:37 PM