NBC10 First Alert Traffic reporter Sheila Watko is helping get drivers around a crash on Interstate 95 near the junction for I-295 in New Castle County, Delaware, which had the highway closed Tuesday morning. A hazmat team was on the scene and traffic backed up for hours. You can use U.S. Route 13 and Route 1 to avoid the crash entirely, but expect delays.
A shelter-in-place order has been lifted for people living near part of Interstate 95 in New Castle County, Delaware after a chemical spill on the highway Tuesday.
The chemical that spilled was organic peroxide, which is a hazardous material. To clean up the spill, Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control had to burn off the peroxide.
Just after 1 p.m., the agency issued a shelter-in-place directive for a 1/2-mile radius around the crash scene at Airport Road and the I-295 split -- an area that included homes and businesses. The shelter-in-place order was lifted before 4 p.m.
The incident began around daybreak Tuesday when a pickup truck hauling a trailer crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer. The crash at first closed the northbound lanes, but later extended to both direction on I-95 and Route 141 over I-95.
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Shortly before 3 p.m., southbound lanes on I-95 reopened; about 4 p.m., one lane northbound reopened. Traffic remained heavy.
The DNREC had worked with local authorities for the previous hours to try and figure out a plan for getting rid of the chemical before deciding to burn it off.
WDEL reports that the pickup driver was injured in the crash.
