Cooking oil spill blocks traffic on Edens

July 1, 2007 (WLS) -- After more than seven hours of lane closures and traffic backed up for hours and miles, lanes on the outbound Edens Expressway reopened Sunday afternoon.

According to Illinois State Police District Chicago Trooper Martinez, all lanes and ramps were reopened on the expressway about 3 p.m. and traffic is moving "slowly."

Cooking oil and pig by-products were slathered across the road, turning the outbound Edens Expressway (I-94) into a "parking lot" and creating tough conditions for cleaning crews Sunday morning near the northwest suburbs.

A three-axle truck carrying pig feet, pig ears and a solution of grease overturned on the outbound Edens at Dempster Street in Skokie about 7:45 a.m., according to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey.

It appears the truck was entering the Edens on the Dempster Street ramp when the load shifted in the back of the truck, causing it to tip over and spill its load across all three lanes, according to Claffey.

The spill created "very slippery conditions" for crews working to clean up the mess, Claffey said.

All outbound lanes of the Edens were blocked to traffic around the spill as what state police deemed cooking oil has poured out over the roadway. Access to the Edens from the Kennedy Expressway (I-90) was blocked as well, according to Illinois State Police District Chicago Trooper Robert Swift.

Crews for IDOT were on the scene for several hours, dumping sand on top of the mess. The sand was scooped up and carted off the road, Claffey said.

Then crews had to use a special foam-cleaning agent to cut through the grease and ensure the roadway is drivable once again, Claffey said.

Though the grease spread out, luckily it was "fairly contained" and did not seep into the storm drains, which would trigger a HazMat response, Claffey said.

The spill itself is not all together that uncommon, but the magnitude was bigger than usual.

"Sure, this happens a lot," a state trooper said. "But mostly it's on the ramps where that happens."

Nobody was injured in the accident, Swift said.

A heavy-duty tow truck was used to get the truck back upright, the trooper said.

The Skokie and Wilmette fire departments also assisted on the scene, Claffey said.

Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006

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