WSLS News Staff
Published: July 12, 2008

Many of you have been calling us about massive flames on Interstate 581 tonight (Saturday).

V-DOT tells us that I-581 is shut down, in both directions, at the Wonju Street exit.

This is because of a tractor trailer accident.

10 On Your Side’s Scott Leamon is headed to the scene and will have a report on WSLS at 11.

 

We snuck on there from Franklin road. We got on the interstate and drove to Tanglewood - it was a ghost highway, no body was out. If you looked back, right at the turns towards downtown, you could see the tanker flipped over and the crane.

 

i heard the driver died in the explosion, wonder what caused him to wreck? asleep at the wheel maybe?

 

that mess caused a major headache for me as i was trying to help a friend move to Roanoke. they had traffic diverted but no directions on the side streets to get back to the highway...

 

Yeah, it was very hectic that night. Thankfully we took the detour right as they were setting everything up - so traffic hadn't gotten too crazy yet.

 

We were close by right after it happened before they were blocking off the bridges and just as they were starting to divert traffic... I thought we were getting pulled over when I saw blue lights approaching behind us at a high speed. lol

It was like a circus over near Jefferson and Walnut though.. People were parking on the side of the road watching, and walking from all over to see the flames. It was intense! I'm sorry that there was a life lost though

On the bright side, if you wanted to get on at Elm and go towards Valley View, you could enjoy the open road knowing all the traffic and police were on the other side of the concrete barrier... if you just so happened to want to accelerate to the speed limit quickly