KY 49 opens after 15-hour shutdown following semi tanker crash

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, 9 a.m. UPDATED 8 P.M. — KY 49, the Loretto Road, was opened to traffic at 8 p.m. Tuesday after it was closed for more than 15 hours following an early morning semi tractor-trailer crash early Tuesday morning.The driver of a semi tanker truck was injured when his truck left Loretto Road and overturned into a ditch in a sharp curve south of Heaven Hill Distilleries. The crash was reported about 4:46 a.m.

The driver was trapped in the cab of the truck for nearly two hours while Bardstown firefighters worked to free him. The overturned truck was loaded with distillery slop, which is used as livestock feed. Loretto Road, KY 49, remains shut down at this hour while the tank is pumped out and the truck is recovered.

The scene was declared a Level 1 Hazmat scene due to diesel fuel leaking from the truck’s ruptured tank. Due to the hazmat declaration, officials from the state EPA were called regarding mitigation and clean-up of the scene. The driver of the semi was taken to Flaget Memorial Hospital complaining of neck and back pain. Pumping the slop from the truck’s tank began about 8 a.m.

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