Lanes on U.S. Route 50 in Anne Arundel County have reopened after an overturned truck rerouted traffic and closed in-person school.
The Maryland State Highway Administration and the Anne Arundel County Fire Department reported around 6 a.m. Monday that the westbound lanes and two eastbound lanes were closed due to a tanker truck flipping onto its side on the Severn River Bridge.
Ron Snyder, a spokesperson for the Maryland State Police Annapolis Barrack, said the driver, Robert Fanucci, 61, of New Jersey, was “cited for negligent driving and failure to obey a designated lane.”
Snyder said all lanes were again accessible a little after 11:30 a.m. The driver of the truck was injured in the accident.
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“The driver of the truck was transported by ambulance to Shock Trauma for treatment of his injuries,” Snyder said.
Officials said earlier this morning it could take up to five hours for the roadway to completely reopen. Commuters were being detoured from the closed westbound lanes to Md. Route 2, or Governor Ritchie Highway, through the city of Arnold.
Sgt. Elix Gerber of the Maryland State Police Annapolis Barrack said there were no life-threatening injuries and the cause of the crash, which happened shortly before 5 a.m., is still under investigation.
“Crews are attempting to upright the tanker, tow it to another location and offload the diesel tanks, then burn off the contents (10,000 pounds of propane) of the truck,” the State Highway Administration said on Facebook around 9:02 a.m. “This will likely take several hours. If crews are unable to complete this operation at another location, they will undertake this process at the scene.”
The obstruction has prevented buses from transporting kids to school. Anne Arundel County Public Schools notified families around 6:30 a.m. about schools in the area that would be delayed two hours and switch to virtual learning for the day: Broadneck High, Magothy River Middle, Broadneck Elementary, Cape St. Claire Elementary, Severn Middle, Arnold Elementary, Belvedere Elementary and Windsor Farm Elementary.
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“It was a matter of the inability of buses to reliably transport students to those schools,” Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for the public schools, said.
Elementary schools open at 8 a.m., he said, and students are usually on the bus as early as 7 a.m. No students were in transport at the time of the accident.
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