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I-70 truck wreck scrambles eggs

Jane Stebbins

State troopers have added eggs to the long list of strange items that have spilled onto the interstate following wrecks.Trooper Lloyd Smith said Mohammed Ali of St. Paul, Minn., was driving his tractor-trailer west on Interstate 70 when his truck’s brakes failed. Ali apparently tried to drive onto the shoulder of the highway, but the vehicle became bogged down in sand and tipped onto its side, Smith said.Ali was carrying 40,000 pounds of eggs from Iowa to California. Other items that have spilled onto the highway in the past include candy bars, pinto beans, beer and steaks.The wreck, which occurred at 2:45 p.m. Sunday, tied up traffic until noon Monday, as emergency personnel worked to remove Ali and the eggs. Ali was treated and released at Summit Medical Center; the eggs were taken to the landfill for disposal.Emergency crews closed two of the three lanes of westbound traffic Sunday afternoon and spent the next 21 hours trying to right the truck.By 7 a.m. Monday, two tow trucks from a nearby gas station righted the vehicle, but the trailer couldn’t support its own weight because two axles were ripped from it in the accident. By noon Monday, they stopped work for the day to let the more than two miles of backed-up traffic pass. Smith said the State Patrol plans to bulldoze the trailer from the roadway and chop it into pieces for disposal later.Ali was ticketed for careless driving, Smith said, adding that during a search of his vehicle, troopers found a ticket he’d been issued in Oklahoma. They later learned he’d recently been involved in a crash in Phoenix, Ariz., as well, Smith said. The entire truck – and its load – were totaled in the incident, Smith said. Damage was estimated in excess of $100,000.”We’re most happy no one else was injured,” Smith said. “But it’s still a mess up there.”


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