A potentially explosive situation shut down a ramp at the south junction of Interstates 70 and 79 in South Strabane Township Tuesday morning when a truck hauling calcium carbide overturned.
The driver was traveling north on I-79 about 7:52 a.m. and intended to head east on I-70 when his rig overturned on the ramp and landed in the grass, said South Strabane Fire Chief Scott Reese.
State police said William Lamaster Jr., 29, of Lexington, Ind., was driving too fast to make the turn. He will be cited for failure to drive at a safe speed and accidents involving overturned vehicles.
The truck was pulling a flatbed trailer holding eight, 4,000-pound containers of calcium carbide.
"When you mix it with water, it becomes acetylene," Reese said.
