No injuries, but hour-long traffic delay near Birch Lake
A Black Gold ore-hauling truck wrecked Friday on a stretch of the Richardson Highway just south of Birch Lake. No one was injured, but traffic was backed-up in both directions for about an hour while the truck was pulled out of a ditch.
Alaska State Troopers got a report at around 8:45 a.m. Friday that a commercial vehicle had slid off the Richardson Highway at milepost 302. Salcha Fire and Rescue responded and reportedly checked the driver, who was not injured.
According to a Trooper dispatch, both lanes of the highway were closed for about an hour while a heavy wrecker from Fairbanks pulled the truck and its two trailers upright and out of the ditch.
Richard Mitchell was one of the drivers in line waiting for the highway to open back up. “It had already been in on the ditch when we pulled up,” he said. “There's like two other cars ahead of us.”
Mitchell was on his way from Delta Junction to Fairbanks to do some shopping when he drove up to the scene of the accident, on an uphill stretch of the highway about four miles south of Birch Lake.
“I did get out of my truck and walked over to the left and I could see the big recovery tow truck,” he said. “After they finally cleared the traffic to go I could see where the truck had been, and it dumped its load there.”
The truck was loaded with ore extracted from the Manh Choh Kinross mine near Tetlin. The company is hauling an average of 60 round-trip truckloads of ore daily on the 247-mile route from the mine to its mill north of Fairbanks.
A Black Gold Transport statement posted on Facebook Friday and re-posted by Kinross Alaska said the ore in the trailers spilled out, but would be recovered and processed at the mill.
Mitchell said the wreck occurred on a slick stretch of the highway near an area known as Snake Canyon.
“You know, Snake Canyon. It curves to the left and right, you go up the hill just as just after you get up the hill there on top is where it was. “
It was one of several slippery spots along the Richardson between Delta and Fairbanks, he said.
“Oh, yeah. There's a couple of stretches that are real touchy and pretty slick. I did barely 55 (mph) all the way and sometimes 45,” he said. “And I have good Blizzak tires. So, even with those, there's a couple of dicey spots.”
The accident sparked dozens of comments on social media. One person said he talked with a Black Gold Transport manager who told him that the ore-truck driver was slowly moving in the right lane of a passing area to allow traffic to get by before it hit the ditch.
On Sunday a Kinross spokesperson confirmed that account and said Friday’s incident is an example of the company’s focus on safety.
“In this situation, the driver maneuvered to the far right of the lane with the intent of letting a box truck pass,” the spokesperson said in a text. “In doing so, the driver’s right-side tires encountered the sloped, snowy shoulder and were pulled into the ditch.”
Troopers say no citations were issued, and that an investigation into the incident continues.
