An ammonia truck wreck is responsible for the deaths of seven people and changed the way hazardous materials are transported through the city.
HOUSTON — Monday marks 50 years since a catastrophic crash right here in Houston that changed how hazardous materials were transported through our city.
On May 11t 1976, a tanker truck carrying more than 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia was speeding, lost control, and crashed off of the 610 West Loop, landing on the Southwest Freeway below. The wreck sent toxic chemicals into the air.
According to the NTSB’s report one year later, the driver was the only person killed in the initial crash, but the exposure to the ammonia cloud later killed six more people who were near the crash site, and nearly 200 others were either treated at the scene or hospitalized due to the exposure.
This crash prompted a review of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s policy which found that none of the regulatory safeguards were effective in reducing the harmful effects of the hazardous materials release.
Today, the 610 Loop is still a designated hazmat route for trucks to avoid the city’s center, but in the years after this disaster, the overpass at the Southwest Freeway where the crash happened and the Pierce Elevated through downtown became restricted routes. This change is meant to prevent similar disasters from happening.
But as the city’s population has nearly tripled in the past 50 years, these routes could still present a serious danger to residents.
This crash is to this day the deadliest truck crash in Houston history.
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