Morning traffic impacted after oil spills onto I-15 on-ramp in Bloomington

St. George Fire Department firefighters clean up an oil spill on the northbound onramp to Interstate 15 in Bloomington, St. George, Utah, July 20, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An oily situation developed on one of the on-ramps of interstate 15 in St. George’s Bloomington area Wednesday morning.

St. George Fire Department firefighters clean up an oil spill on the northbound onramp to Interstate 15 in Bloomington, St. George, Utah, July 20, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Police said shortly before 10 a.m., a container full of oil spilled on the northbound on-ramp off the east Brigham Road roundabout.

“It was a 5-gallon bucket of oil that fell on the northbound on-ramp,” St. George Police Officer Tiffany Mitchell said. “Oil was stretched along a quarter-mile.”

It’s unclear where the bucket came from, but police said it was likely one of the trucks coming from the Pilot Travel Center truck spot right next to the on-ramp.

“We don’t know what it fell off of, but that’s a safe bet,” Mitchell said.

Much of the spill was on the center median and the portion off the onramp that takes traffic off westbound Brigham Road. The effect on traffic turned out to be minimal, as all the on-ramp traffic was moved to the secondary road in the nearby roundabout.

Along with St. George Police, St. George Fire and Utah Department of Transportation workers used absorbing powder, cat litter and brooms to clear away the oily mess, which was just about cleared by 10:30 a.m.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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