Parks Highway reopens one day after tanker crash

HURRICANE GULCH — The Parks Highway reopened today after being closed for most of Monday following the rollover of a tanker truck carrying refrigerated methane.

Robert Adkins, 63, from the Palmer-Wasilla area, was driving the tanker truck when it overturned around 9 a.m., Monday 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.

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.