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Road salt cleans cooking oil spill: Route 82 lane in city closed for 12 hours
April 30, 2009
by Eric Marotta
Editor
Macedonia -- After trying several options, city officials learned that ordinary road salt is the best way to remove used cooking oil from asphalt.
However, it still took until well into the evening April 23 to clean the eastbound lane of Route 82 near the middle of town so that cars would not slide on about 500 gallons of the slippery substance that was spilled earlier in the day.
Macedonia Police Lt. Vince Yakopovich said the driver of a waste-oil carrier was cited with a third-degree misdemeanor for having a leaking load after a hose on the back of the truck became loose, spilling oil along a mile-long stretch of road before he noticed the hose flapping in his rear-view mirror.
The incident was reported at 10:47 a.m. Fire and police officials closed Route 82 to all traffic from Valley View Road to Shepard Road for about three hours while trying to figure out how to clean up the mess. Although the oil created a slippery coating on the road, no accidents occurred.
Westbound traffic was later allowed to proceed, but the eastbound lanes remained closed until around 10 p.m.
Fire Chief Tim Black said workers initially tried to clean the oil with a road sweeper, then called in a sweeper-vacuum truck that is used to clean up ice and salt from the runaway at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.
Workers then tried to use sand to sop up the oil, followed by a special absorbent material before trying ordinary road salt.
Results looked promising after one pass, in which a snow plow was used to rub the salt into the asphalt.
"It was effective, but it didn't totally eliminate the slipperyness of the road," Black said.
After another pass, about two tons of salt had been dropped and a police cruiser traveling about 45 miles per hour confirmed the road was safe to drive on.
Black said contractors who were called in to help with the cleanup will bill the oil recycler for the costs. Black said the city will do the same, once it comes up with a figure for the amount of overtime and materials used.
Editor's note: This news was first posted April 23 at www.the-news-leader.com.
E-mail: emarotta@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3171
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