The hauling of
molten metal on roadways is done without incident on a daily basis with almost
no incidents. Almost no incidents. Here is a recent incident emphasizing the
hazard of over the road transport.
Traffic
Advisory from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet according to the assistant fire
chief for the Daviess County Fire Department, at 7:10 a.m. this morning
emergency crews were dispatched to an accident with injuries at the
intersection of US 231 N and Hwy. 60 E. When crews arrived on the scene they
found a passenger car off of the roadway, and a semi-truck carrying molten
aluminum overturned in the northbound lane of Hwy 60. (This occurred in September
2018)
The drivers of
both vehicles were transported to Owensboro Health with non-life-threatening
injuries.
The crash is
blocking the northbound lanes of US 231 near the 12-mile marker in Daviess
County. This is along US 231 just north of the US 60 intersection near the
Natcher Bridge and blocks northbound access to the bridge into Indiana.
Northbound access to the
Natcher Bridge via US 231 is blocked and likely to continue to be blocked for
another four hours. US 60 remains open at the intersection with east and west
access open between Owensboro and Lewisport.
The suggested detour is
via the KY 2262 Ohio River “Blue” Bridge in downtown Owensboro, or the KY 69
Ohio River Bridge at Hawesville.
According to the KTC,
this is the second truck to crash in the last six months carrying molten
aluminum. Emergency crews learned from the last incident how to work with this
substance. According to Blandford, the temperature of the liquid substance is
an estimated eight thousand degrees and cannot be sprayed with water and must
be given time to dry before scraping off in one piece.
The DCFD and emergency
crews have been on the scene for two hours, and anticipate three more as
they wait for the aluminum substance to solidify for removal. For this reason,
the estimated duration for clean-up is about four hours or around 12 p.m.
The accident is currently
under investigation.
We pray that the injured truck
driver and motorist recover fully from this incident. Later news reports state
that the truck driver failed to stop for a red light. Nevertheless, this could
have turned out very bad for both vehicles. Many of these incidents do not go
reported. In addition there are many incidents where a vehicle hauling molten
metal on company property overturns or spills metal. Those incidents too do not
get reported. We would assume that atleast once a week a truck overturns
somewhere in the world hauling molten metal either on the roadways or inside the
company fences. That might sound high but it is a very very small percentage of
the total amount of vehicles that transport metal on a daily basis.
The Aluminium Times Magazine
had an article on this topic which can be downloaded here.
Please comment.
1 comment:
After reading this article there is an incorrect statement. The temp of the molten aluminum when poured into those cruces is around 1400 degrees, not 8000 degrees.
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