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February 04, 2005
Tanker Crash Closes US 65
My mom told me about this yesterday:
Arkansas State Police hoped to reopen U.S. 65 in Searcy County on Thursday night after the crash of a propane tanker on a curve of the highway forced its closure and the evacuation of nearby homes......
The 2000 Peterbilt tanker carrying 9,400 gallons of propane was driven by William J. Lane, 50, of Summit when it crashed on U.S. 65 about a mile north of Pindall, according to a state police report.
State police Cpl. Randall Dias said the stretch of highway has two northbound lanes and one southbound lane.
The accident happened when Lane moved from the left-hand lane to the right-hand lane around a right-hand curve to pass, Dias said.
A bit misleading, that. US 65 between Harrison and Pindall is primarily a narrow, crooked little 2 lane highway. The place where the wreck happened is one of two passing lanes on that stretch, and it's a fairly short one. It's also poorly signed & striped, and the third lane begins on a sharp curve at the foot of a steep hill & ends on another curve at the top of the hill. In other words, if you don't already know it's there, the likelihood of your passing another car there is almost nil. Even if you do know, you have to downshift & floor it in order to pass.
So I'm not surprised someone wrecked there....or that they had to close the highway & evacuate residents because no one could figure out how to safely empty the propane tanker.
Nor was I surprised when my mother insisted that we bring WildChild down for a visit today, and oh btw Hwy. 65 is closed so you'll have to detour out through the dirt roads around Pindall.
I don't think so Mom.
Posted by Rita at February 4, 2005 06:56 AM