Squash

I-79 in Pennsylvania, in July 2005. Apparently, a tractor-trailer hit the overpass support, spilling it’s squashed squash on the median.

From Flickr

 

Stone Block

I can’t find a description of what happened here. Obviously the driver decided to stop a little too quickly. If you’re carrying a giant hunk of concrete in the back of your truck, I would think you’d want to drive somewhat carefully. My question is “how did they get that big block of concrete in the truck in the first place?” My next question is “why would you want to truck around a giant hunk of concrete?” Does this still qualify as a spill? It just came out the wrong end.

Scroll down for further information on this incident!

UPDATE 3/8/08:

This photo has caused a bit of controversy (although not quite as much as the Beer Spill. Visitors have said that it is not concrete, but rather, Stone, Limestone, Marble, or Granite. Christian M. even sent a link showing similar blocks of marble being trucked. The only thing I can say with certainty is that the original source said that it was concrete. My vote is for Limestone. One visitor tells me that they use a giant forklift to get them into the truck. Very cool!

UPDATE 4/13/08:

Chris L. says “I load those containers onto trucks and trains for a living. There’s a reason why we load them with the doors facing rearward. Apparently in China they don’t follow that procedure.”

And John M. gave this some serious thought.
“Much more likely to be marble then limestone. Marble is shipped in blocks for sculptures or for further processing – cutting into sheets and polishing.
Marble also has a low friction factor, so would slide under moderate braking. Also the low friction would make it “easy” to push the block into the container.
In Asian countries serious overloading is a part of life – partly helped by low speeds which means tyres will not blow out as readily because less heat is built up in them.
Normally of course containers are loaded with the doors to the rear to facilitate unloading – why this is back the front is a mystery unless that was the only way they could spread the load the way they needed.
In any case the block was obviously not restrained to any degree, so under braking it slid forward, the impact load on the doors caused them to burst open, and it slid out until stopped by the cabin.
Note the other products suggested have high friction factors so would be unlikely to slide – and granite cannot be white.”

 

Silage

On February 1, 2008, a truck carrying silage overturned on a road near Tulare, CA.

For those who aren’t sure what silage is, (this included me until I looked it up) it is fermented, high-moisture fodder that can be fed to ruminants (cows and sheep) or used as a biofuel feedstock for anaerobic digesters. It’s usually made from grass crops such as maize or sorghum. Sometimes it’s a mix of two crops.

Reportedly, a small car crossed into the truck’s lane and the driver drove onto the shoulder to avoid the car, causing him to lose control. The driver suffered some injuries and was transported to the hospital.

More info on Silage from Stacey S.

“My family has been making silage for many years. What it is is usually a cerial or grass crop that has been choped up into teeny tiny peices then droped into either a silo where it ferments or is placed into a bunker or on the gound, driven over by a heavy tractor to pack it down and then covered over with plastic, usually black, weighted down by dirt, old tires or other heavy items and left to ferment. After a while it is taken out and fed to usually cows (either dairy or beef.) After fermenting for a while it has a very distinctive smell. It is high enegry food for animals. ”

Stacey wasn’t specific about the “distinctive smell” but I’m going to jump to the conclusion that it isn’t pleasant.

Visalia Times-Delta

Peanuts

A tractor-trailer loaded with peanuts overturned on Sept. 27, 2005 in North Carolina. It took firefighters about three hours to clear the spilled peanuts from the US70 and US117 intersection.

News-Argus

Oranges

On April 8, 2003, a semi trailer lost it’s load on the Sturt Highway (not sure where this is) when a rope snapped. 53 bins, totaling 26 1/2 tons of oranges covered the road.

Darryl sent me an email saying…

“The Sturt Highway (named after an early explorer) runs through Mildura in the heart of South Eastern Australia’s citrus growing area, on the Murray river.
Always like a good truck spill!”

Thanks Darryl!

Onions

On February 8th, 2008, on the N3 in Durban (which is, I think, in South Africa) A truck had a blow-out, which caused it to slide in the wet conditions, colliding into a guardrail and overturning. The news report says that a “bakkie” then collided with the truck.

Apparently, a “bakkie” is slang in South Africa for a small pickup truck. It’s also the name of a small bowl to put something in, which would explain the nickname.

Nobody was hurt, but cleanup crews cried for hours. Just kidding. It’s an onion joke.

East Coast Radio

 

Garlic

On August 7, 2006, a trailer full of garlic overturned along Highway 299 in Montgomery Creek, CA.

Intermountain News Online, Burney California

Soybeans

A truck hauling 50,000 pounds of soybeans overturned and dumped them into a 1995 Firebird in Clarksville,TN.

 

 

Posted on The Wx Fam blog on April 14, 2008:

A few days ago, my mom was at home and suddenly heard a loud noise outside…

A grain truck had overturned in their front yard spilling its load of soy beans. The driver was a little dazed, but not injured. Within minutes, the police and a tow truck were called to the scene. Later, a crop vacuum came by and cleaned up the soy beans.

 

 

 

M&M Cookies

On September 13, 2007, a tractor trailer carrying 20,000 pounds of M&M’s Cookies overturned in San Bernardino, spilling cookies all over the highway. In the photos, it looks like it’s just M&M’s, but if you look closely, you’ll see that it says M&M Cookies. Nobody was hurt. It took crews several hours to clean up the mess (and, no doubt, stuff their cars with cookies).

KNBC TV

Light Beer

A tractor-trailer loaded with Keystone Light beer overturned near Denver, CO on the morning of May 15, 2008, spilling cases of beer on I-70 and closing the ramp for several hours.
Crews reopened the ramp at about 3 p.m., according the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Wheat Ridge police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall said the truck driver transporting 12-pack cases of Keystone Light in cans lost control on the wet highway.

The truck hit a curve too fast and tipped over, tearing the side and top of the trailer and spewing beer cans down the embankment. The driver was not seriously injured. Some of the beer survived, too. It was transferred to another truck by hand.

The “uninjured” beer, as Stigall called it, was being transferred by hand to another truck.

The far right lane of I-70 was closed this afternoon because the nose of the beer truck protruded onto the shoulder, she said. Still, traffic on eastbound I-70 was “flowing nicely.”

She said the highway could still close when a wrecker is brought in to flip the beer truck back over.
On A tractor-trailer loaded with beer overturned on a ramp to Interstate 70 this morning, spilling cases of brew on the roadway and closing the ramp for hours.

The Navaho Express rig overturned about 10:30 a.m. on the ramp from Colorado Highway 58 to the eastbound lanes of the interstate in Wheat Ridge.

Keystone Light’s slogan is “Always smooth, even when you’re not.” On Tuesday, a semi tractor-trailer hauling a load of Keystone was anything but smooth as it rolled over, spilling beer and fuel all over the roadway.
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In the last photo, young men can be seen “salvaging” cans of beer. I couldn’t determine if they were with the crew that was tranferring the beer to another truck, or local guys transferring the beer to their fridge.

Denver Post, and other sources

 

 

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