‘It was a heavy load and it took a lot to get it back up’ after semi rolls on Whatcom road
It took three heavy-duty tow trucks and more than seven hours to clean up after a semi-truck carrying garbage rolled Thursday evening along State Route 546 in Whatcom County.
What caused the non-injury, single-vehicle crash is still being investigated by the Washington State Patrol, Trooper Jacob Kennett told The Bellingham Herald Friday morning, Aug. 19.
North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and Lynden Fire Department crews were called to the report of an expanded traffic collision at 5:04 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, in the 1900 block of East Badger Road near Trapline Road, according to the PulsePoint app.
Responders arrived to find the semi, which was hauling garbage in a trailer with a tarp cover, lying on its right side mostly outside the fog line of the westbound lane, Kennett reported.
“Traffic is alternating in the EB lane,” Kennett tweeted at the time. “This will likely be an extended closure while Troopers and crews work to clear the scene. Please be patient and drive safe!”
When the Class C tow trucks arrived around 8 p.m., both lanes had to be closed, Kennett told The Herald, as “it was a heavy load and it took a lot to get it back up.”
A detour was set up around the area of the crash, Kennett said, but the Washington State Department of Transportation didn’t tweet that the roadway was cleared until 12:27 a.m. Thursday.
Other than the truck, Kennett said the only damage was a broken tree on the property where the truck landed.
