Northern section of Parks Highway closed until at least midnight

HURRICANE GULCH — The Parks Highway was expected to be closed from Mile 171.5 to Mile 184.5 until midnight Monday due to an overturned tanker carrying refrigerated methane.

Robert Adkins, 63, from the Palmer-Wasilla area, was driving the tanker truck when it overturned this morning just beyond the Hurricane Gulch Bridge and the Honolulu Creek wayside.

Officials aren’t sure what caused the truck to overturn, Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said, adding that section of the Parks Highway is completely straight.

Adkins was transported to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center with minor injuries, according to a borough news release.

The truck is owned by TG Services of Wasilla.

As of 3 p.m., Monday, emergency crews from the Mat-Su Borough were staged near the accident, along with the 103rd Civil Support Team, a hazardous materials team from Elmendorf and Fort Richardson, the borough said.

By 7:30 p.m., Monday two wreckers were on scene attempting to move the tractor away from the trailer, the borough said. Once the trailer is upright, crews will unload more methane into another tanker trailer.

The tanker was carrying refrigerated methane, said Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele, who has been monitoring the incident. His hazardous materials crew is up there, he said, as is a Fairbanks crew and one from the Army.

“It’s one that we’re concerned about any temperature fluctuations,” Steele said of the truck’s methane. “If that truck starts heating you have the potential for explosion.”

By Monday afternoon, emergency workers were venting the tanker to avoid catastrophe.

“Because it’s venting properly it’ll maintain a temperature that will reduce the risk of explosion,” Acting Assistant Fire Chief for Central Mat-Su Ken Barkley said in a news release.

Hazardous materials experts were trying to figure out Monday the safest way to offload the tanker’s methane before turning the trailer right-side-up, the news release said.

Crews from Fairbanks Natural Gas, where the truck was heading with its cargo, are planning to use two cranes to right the truck.

Three trains on the Alaska Railroad tracks were allowed to pass by with coordination from on-scene personnel, borough officials said. A light wind was reported to be blowing away from the tracks.

Adkins was involved in another accident on the Parks Highway Aug. 13 when a 2007 Ford Mustang drifted over the center line and struck the rear axle of Adkins' trailer, according to a troopers report.

The driver of the Mustang, Jonathan Floyd, 29, of Eagle River and his passenger, Justin Stone, 27, were transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center where they were treated for injuries then released.

That accident, near Mile 122.5, closed the Parks for about one and a half hours while crews towed Adkins' truck and the totaled Mustang from the scene. The Natural gas Adkins was hauling that day was transferred to another tanker.

An investigation of the accident is ongoing, the trooper report says.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.