The accident near Interstate 895 in Elkridge, Maryland made a mess out of Tuesday afternoon's rush hour and could cause more problems Wednesday morning.

It will be at least Wednesday morning before the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 south of Baltimore re-open again following Tuesday afternoon's deadly tanker explosion in which four people died.

Drivers planning on traveling in that direction should use alternate routes including Route 29, the Baltimore- Washington Parkway, or U.S. Route One.

The accident near Interstate 895 in Elkridge, Maryland made a mess out of Tuesday afternoon's rush hour.

The accident occurred shortly before 3pm in the northbound lane of the highway, just below an overpass carrying the southbound lane of Interstate 895, said William Mould, the fire department spokesman.

The accident involved two automobiles and two tractor trailers -- one a tanker truck and one a box-type truck.

It sparked a four-alarm fire and there were hazardous materials involved, he said. He did not know what cargo the trucks were carrying. The fire burned for about an hour.

Mould said he did not know which vehicles were carrying the people who were killed. He said he did not know of any other injuries.

Firefighters from Howard County, Baltimore County and Baltimore-Washington International Airport responded to the scene.

Firefighters sprayed foam to contain the flames. "There was fire everywhere," said Chuck Gischlar, an SHA spokesman. "It was down in the woods, on other vehicles. It was terrible there."

From an aerial image, Gischlar said he saw the tanker truck, another tractor trailer and at least one passenger vehicle in the accident.

The SHA has sent engineers to the scene. Maryland State Police also responded.

Traffic was backed up in both directions on I-95, and authorities were working to establish a detour. The scene is near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and people there could see the smoke.

Boulware did not know the cause of the collision.

"We're at the point where we are working on emergency response right now," Boulware said. "Then we'll worry about the cause at a later date."

Motorists should avoid the area and take alternate routes. Northbound I-95 traffic should use MD-295 (Exit 22) or M-32 (Exit 38) to US 29 (Exit 16 to I-70 (Exit 25) to I-695 (Exit 7).

Motorists on southbound I-895 should use US 1 (Exit 1).

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