Officials: Terrain and 'Tolland's Micro-Climate' Can Add Up to Truck Crashes on Stretch of I-84

TOLLAND, CT — When asked if it seemed like a stretch of Interstate-84 between Exits 67 and 68 has a propensity for truck crashes, two officials said yes without even hesitating.

And they cited terrain and weather.

Crews were still cleaning up the scene of a major tractor-trailer crash on a stretch of Interstate-84 eastbound on Tuesday morning m about 37 hours after the incident. The crash took place at 6:55 p.m. Sunday on the infamous stretch of pavement eastbound between exits 67 and 68. A truck carrying barrels of hazardous material skidded off the highway and rolled onto its side on an embankment, state police said.

"It happens a lot," Tolland Fire Chief John Littell said at a Monday news conference. Veteran State trooper Sgt. Kenneth Albert called it the most serious truck incident of his career.

He and Littell spoke of two factors — the hilly terrain and what they called Tolland's micro-climate. The area seems to draw snow squalls that randomly move in and and higher snow amounts for each storm.

Tolland fire officials and crews from the federal Environmental Protection Agency were at the scene.

EPA contractors deployed air quality monitors in the area, "as a precaution only," Tolland fire officials said.

The materials were described as, "flammable and corrosive," state police said. Mark DeCarprio of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said the chemicals included peroxides, various types of acid and some ammonia solutions.

State police said the truck is owned by OMA Transportation of Dallas. The driver was on his way from Texas to a chemical storage facility in Massachusetts, DeCaprio said. The driver was cited for traveling too fast for conditions. It had snowed earlier in the day.

Some containers were punctured, but officials are not fearing pollution to any neighborhood, DeCaprio said

Crews were going door-to-door to temporarily evacuate residents who lived close to the highway, officials said.

The truck was about 25 feet off the road, Tolland Fire Chief John Littell said. Littell said the snow actually cushioned the blow of the crash. The cold temperatures complicated recovery, but on a hot day, the crash "would have been a lot different," he said.

When crashes do take place eastbound, traffic backs up into Vernon, police spokesman Lt. William Meier said.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel; State Police