A portion of Highway 401 is closed near Pickering following a fiery crash that left two people dead and at least one Ministry of Transportation official is now warning that some lane closures could remain in effect into Friday.
Ontario Provincial Police have said that a tanker truck carrying a full load of “highly flammable” liquid was travelling in the eastbound lanes of the highway near Brock Road late Tuesday night when its driver lost control, crashed through a barrier and created a “massive fireball” in the westbound lanes of the highway.
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OPP say that the flames from that explosion then spread to an oncoming transport truck and passenger vehicle.
Eastbound traffic is currently being forced off the highway at Brock Road while westbound traffic is being forced off at Liverpool Road.
Here is everything you need to know about the closure:
ROAD WILL HAVE TO BE RESURFACED BEFORE HIGHWAY CAN REOPEN
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CP24 that restoring the roadway in order to let some traffic through could be an “all-day affair” at a minimum due to the significant damage caused by the fire. He said that before the road can be reopened, crews will have to inspect the overpass at Brock Road and asses its structural integrity. He said that a large portion of the road will also have to be resurfaced and some light standards which were damaged in the blaze will have to be replaced.
"This will be an all-day affair for sure. There is a lot of work to be done,” he said.
"The explosions that were being reported in that area while this fire was ongoing actually extended not only to where the vehicle, the transport truck, was burning but as the fuel was pouring into the catch basins, there were explosions in the storm sewers that actually blew the storm sewers and the catch basins to pieces.
Update. -Significant incident #Hwy401/Brock Rd Ajax. Highway closures in place between Westney and Whites. Updates to follow. One confirmed fatality #TorontoOPP pic.twitter.com/XyapKGMyzQ
— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) June 21, 2023
Schmidt said approximately 54,000 litres of fuel was spilled during the crash.
"When the pressure built up, it exploded violently, shooting the asphalt and that steel manhole cover -- and who knows how many hundreds of pounds that was -- blasting it straight up," he said.
Some of the manhole covers that got blown up were on the other side of the highway, which Schmidt said demonstrates how powerful the explosion was.
"I don't know how much they would have lifted into the air, but you can see how much they've moved. And these are incredibly heavy. There's an incredible amount of energy here, which was shocking to me," he said, speaking a few metres away from the scene of the fire.
"I would have never expected that there would be a hazard here."
As for what caused the crash that resulted in the explosion, Schmidt said it had not been determined yet.
"Our closer reconstruction team dealing with whatever's left over to try to put together the pieces to see what happened, and we don't know at this point," he said.
WHAT ARE THE BEST ALTERNATE ROUTES?
CP24 Traffic Specialist Lisa Morales said that drivers can use Highway 7 and Highway 407 as alternate routes but are likely to still encounter heavy traffic. She says that during the morning rush hour Highway 401 eastbound was “jammed basically past Kingston Road” with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Meanwhile, in a message posted to Twitter Durham police said that roads through both Ajax and Pickering are “very busy.”
“Plan ahead, drive safe and be mindful that everyone is in the same boat - delayed, and likely late,” they said.
LANE CLOSURES COULD PERSIST UNTIL FRIDAY
At this point there is no timeline for the reopening of the highway. One official with the Ministry of Transportation did tell CP24 that they are hoping for a “partial reopening Friday morning.” In the meantime, police are warning drivers to avoid the area altogether if at all possible.
“If you can avoid this area until this situation is resolved you should. There are alternate routes but they are going to be very heavy (with traffic),” Schmidt told CP24.
POLICE WARNING DRIVERS TO OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS
CP24’s chopper captured images of several drivers using on ramps to exit the highway on Wednesday morning in an effort to avoid the closure. Schmidt told CP24 that he can appreciate that the closure is a “huge headache” for drivers but he said that it is important that traffic laws are still respected.
“We don’t want people going the wrong way into oncoming traffic. It causes confusion, it can obviously cause collisions and injuries and we don’t want to see that happening,” he said. “Wait your turn, we will help traffic continue to move but there are slowdowns obviously.”
