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LEHI — An 18-wheeler carrying flammable fuel tipped over on I-15 in Lehi, blocking the northbound lanes and closing the highway in both directions near 1800 North.
The Utah Department of Public Safety said in a news release the semi was carrying butane and overturned about 10:24 a.m. One of its tanks was leaking, the agency said.
No injuries were reported in the wreck. Traffic was diverted off the highway and the incident caused major delays for nearly 10 hours.
“We were on I-15 for about three hours,” said Alisson Weeks, one of the drivers who sat through the backed-up traffic.
A Utah Department of Transportation Twitter account estimated that the highway will reopen between 4 and 6 p.m. Both directions reopened around 8 p.m. as the tanker was cleared from the freeway. Southbound was reopened first shortly before 8 p.m., and northbound was cleared shortly before 8:15 p.m.
Southbound I-15 near Milepost 282 is now open. Northbound I-15 remains closed at milepost 279 but should open shortly.
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) December 1, 2019
I-15 still closed in both directions in Lehi. More info here: https://t.co/qBQRP6YP1Hpic.twitter.com/DsHwdvxcm2
— Devon Dewey (@DevonDewey) November 30, 2019
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Brady Zaugg said the southbound lanes were closed as a precaution. "We're just trying to clear the area in case something were to happen," he said.
Cameron Boyle, Lehi's assistant city administrator, said residents at one apartment complex on the east side of the highway were evacuated to a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse. The Red Cross opened an evacuation center at the location.
“It’s a quarter-mile radius around the accident. We have evacuated some homes and those people who have been relocated to a church house at 700 West 2630 North,” said Boyle.
Contributing: Garna Mejia, KSL TV; Jen Riess, KSL.com
