Tractor-trailer drifts off Montana 35

Mike Bartel of Draggin? Wagon towing company secure cables to a tractor-trailer that overturned 10 miles north of Polson along Montana 35 Monday afternoon. The driver of the truck was not injured and was wearing a seat belt when his vehicle went off the road. The driver struck a guardrail head-on and the end of the guardrail got caught beneath the truck?s axle. Having the guardrail caught in the axle probably slowed the truck?s tumble off the road, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. Draggin? Wagon had seven rigs at the scene to help with the truck removal.

The Daily Inter Lake

No one was injured Monday when a tractor-trailer carrying flowers and greenhouse supplies ran off Montana 35 and overturned.

The crash occurred fewer than five miles north of where a tanker truck pulling tandem trailers overturned on April 2, gushing more than 6,300 gallons of gasoline into the ground and prompting a major cleanup effort.

Monday?s accident occurred at 3:25 p.m. near mile marker 10, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. The tractor-trailer was southbound when for an unknown reason it drifted off the right side of the road and struck a guardrail. The truck bounced off and hit a second guardrail, this time breaking through and rolling down a steep embankment.

The truck was pulling a standard 48-foot trailer loaded with 20,000 pounds of cargo, said Montana Highway Patrol trooper Jim Sanderson.

The 42-year-old driver was not injured. No other vehicles were involved in the wreck.

Neither alcohol nor excessive speed were factors in the crash, said Sanderson, adding that witnesses confirmed the truck was traveling at or near the posted 50 mph speed limit.

Sanderson said he planned to cite the driver for careless driving.

In the wake of the April 2 tanker truck crash, Montana Department of Transportation director Jim Lynch ordered staff to begin considering options to limit truck traffic on Montana 35.

That crash forced crews to removed more than 1,400 tons of gasoline-contaminated soil that in some places reached 21 feet deep. About 1,000 gallons of gasoline have been removed, leaving more than 5,000 gallons of fuel still in the ground. Free product has since been discovered in nearby springs and gasoline vapors have forced the evacuation of several nearby homes.

A trucking industry spokesman said they would resist any state effort to limit access to the highway.

Also responding to the accident were Finley Point fire department, Lake County Sheriff?s Office, Lake County Office of Emergency Management and Mission Valley Power.