Roadway underwent an emergency resurfacing

A Hamilton man has been charged with careless driving, police say, after rolling a truck and spilling 44,000 litres of liquid asphalt on the Red Hill Valley Parkway.

Police say the 34-year-old was behind the wheel of the tractor trailer that struck the CP rail bridge that crosses Red Hill just south of King Street around 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 22.

Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe said two people who were in the truck when the crash happened were pulled from the wreck by firefighters using an aerial ladder before being taken to hospital with minor injuries.

A thick, black sludge leaked from the truck’s tank, covering the northbound lanes, the centre median and one lane on the southbound side.

City workers chipped and scraped as much of the liquid asphalt off the roadway as possible before starting an emergency “shave and pave” to resurface it that same day.

The section of the roadway is part of a larger resurfacing project on the Red Hill that’s slated to happen in July. Though crews milled off the top two inches of existing pavement on the day of the crash and placed new asphalt back on top, the whole thing will once again be replaced this summer.

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Source: CBC News