Lucas Valley Road Reopens After Rig-Rig Crash but More Clean Up Needed

Lucas Valley Road reopened Friday afternoon following cleanup work on a paint spill into a creek caused by an overturned big-rig Thursday morning but work crews will need to return to the area next week, according
to Marin County officials.

The work caused lane closures and delays for much of the day between Westgate Drive and Skywalker Ranch Road, but all lanes reopened by 4:45 p.m., according to the Marin County Department of Public Works.

Work crews will need to return to the area on Monday because difficult terrain slowed the completion of the cleanup, but no lanes will need to be closed that day, officials said.

On Tuesday, both lanes of Lucas Valley Road will be closed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to allow for the removal of all work materials and a final inspection of the area by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Further closures could be necessary if wildlife officials do not sign off on the project at that time.

The spill occurred Thursday morning around 6:25 a.m. when a big-rig carrying eight 250-gallon plastic containers of paint overturned just west of Westgate Drive.

Around 300 gallons of yellow paint spilled, according to county public works officials.

Hugo Zavala-Barrera, 28, of Mendota, was driving a 2008 Freightliner truck towing a trailer with the eight containers of paint west on Lucas Valley Road to the Marin County Corporation Yard in Nicasio, according to CHP Officer Andrew Barclay.

Zavala-Barrera tried to negotiate a tight right turn and the right tires of the trailer tracked to the inside of the turn and left the road, Barclay said.

The trailer then slid down a steep embankment pulling the truck backward, and the trailer came to rest hanging almost vertically with the truck still wheels on the road, Barclay said.

Some of the paint containers ruptured when they fell into a ravine and spilled paint into a creek, Barclay said.

Zavala-Barrera was able to get out of the truck and was not injured, Barclay said.

Bayview Environmental Services of Oakland responded to clean up the paint, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Environmental protection Agency also responded, Barclay said.

• --Bay City News Service, photo via courtesy of the CHP