FAIRFAX, Va. — All lanes on the Beltway near American Legion Bridge have reopened early Friday morning after an overturned tanker caused massive delays for more than 12 hours.
Around 2 p.m. on Thursday, another vehicle hit the tanker, which was carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel, Virginia State Police said. No one was seriously injured.
The truck reportedly lost 150 gallons of fuel, according fire and rescue crews. None of the fuel leaked into the Potomac River following the crash.
Police said the fuel inside the truck had to be unloaded/pumped into another tanker before it could be removed from the roadway.
Other drivers were stuck in traffic for at least four hours.
In a tweet, one driver told WUSA9 it took her 3.5 hours to get from Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda to Rosslyn, Virginia.
Plans to make the bridge less busy by building another Potomac River crossing have largely been scrapped, mired in decades of bureaucracy, but there is a glimmer of hope.
In January, Maryland's highway administrator confirmed that replacing the bridge itself -- the region's worst bottleneck -- is at the top of his list. Greg Slater said a new bridge will be phase one of Gov. Larry Hogan's $9 billion Beltway widening project.
