Highway 14 reopens after oil spill cleanup

State Highway 14 reopened at 2 a.m. today after being closed all day Tuesday eight miles east of Washougal for clean up  of an oil spill.

“We were able to get a contractor crew out to do the paving, that was a big part of it,” Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Treece said.

More work on the stretch of highway, nine miles east of Washougal, is planned for the next few days, Treece said. Alternating lanes of traffic will be open during the work.

A tractor-trailer hauling two tankers of hot oil was heading east on the highway about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday when the driver tried to take a curve too fast, Washington State Patrol Trooper Steve Robley said.

The rear trailer struck the guardrail and overturned onto its side, spilling the hot oil, which is used in asphalt paving.

There were no injuries, but 3,000 gallons of oil spilled onto the roadway and grassy shoulder. It congealed, damaging the roadway.

The State Patrol said the driver of the rig, 49-year-old Juan Williams Jr., of Yuma, Ariz., was cited for second-degree negligent driving. Robley said a State Patrol commercial vehicle inspector also found the rig’s brakes appeared to be out of adjustment, which may lead to more citations.