Truck Snarls Capital Traffic

A tractor-trailer loaded with 20 tons of black powder overturned at a major highway interchange Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of 50 homes and causing huge rush-hour traffic jams in the Washington area.

The truck ran off a ramp around 4 a.m. at the complex and busy juncture of Interstate 95, the Capital Beltway and Interstate 395. I-95 is the primary East Coast highway, linking Miami and Boston.

The beltway, or Interstate 495, makes a broad loop around the District of Columbia through its Virginia and Maryland suburbs. From the accident site, I-395 leads into Arlington and Washington about 10 miles to the northeast.

The driver of the rig told police she heard a popping sound just before the rig overturned, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell. The powder, the type used to make fireworks, was inside a cargo container atop a flatbed trailer, Caldwell said. None of the powder spilled from its container.

The driver, Juanita Kirk, 41, and her boyfriend, Tod Johnson, 40, were not injured, Caldwell said. The two are from Phoenix and drive as a team, she said.

Kirk was charged with reckless driving.

The couple had picked up the cargo at Newport News, Va., and had just begun a run that would take them to New Haven, Vt., then eventually to Memphis, Tenn.

Special emergency crews were called to right the trailer and remove the powder.

Fairfax County firefighters cleared a 2,000-foot area around the crash site and rousted about 150 people out of their homes and into a shelter set up at nearby Lee High School. Classes at the school were canceled for the day.

The accident closed the key highway intersection in the area, creating a traffic jam that brought the morning commute in Washington's Virginia suburbs to a standstill. Traffic was backed up for about 20 miles on the northbound lanes of I-95, Caldwell said.

People dressed in shorts, jeans and T-shirts showed up at the high school after being awakened by authorities who went through the neighborhood banging on doors.

"They didn't even want us to get out of our pajamas," said Emmanuel Edim, 45, of Springfield.

"We were just awakened and told not to take a shower and get out," said Lois Neel, 68, of Springfield.

Accidents are common in the interchange, known locally as "the mixing bowl." Work began this spring on a major eight-year overhaul of the interchange.

"Typically, trucks tend to go too fast for the ramp. Their load shifts, and they turn over," Caldwell said.

"This has paralyzed northern Virginia," Caldwell said. The traffic jams were not limited to the interstates, because commuters who got off the freeway looking for other routes got lost on local roads and streets, she said.

Jessica Ashford arrived at her bus stop 10 minutes early for a 7 a.m. bus headed to her office in Tysons Corners. She was still waiting at 8:30 and munching on the food she packed for her lunch.

"This is ridiculous,"fumed as she looked down Franconia Road at exasperated drivers working their cell phones and honking horns in a line of stalled traffic that stretched for as far as she could see.

"I'm going to give it 15 more minutes," she said.

Authorities had no estimate of when the roads would be cleared.

Written By Paul Tolme