[Recovering_Democrat]

Missouri FREEPers please keep us updated.

[Recovering_Democrat]

(MoDOT/KMOV) -- I-70 is closed in both directions between Jennings Station and Shreve Ave. due to a tractor-trailer fire.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Traffic closed on both lanes...from what I heard this is just several miles outside of Saint Louis.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Can I be the first to blame this on those horrible muslims that want to destroy everything, or is it too late?






(Please note that this is sarcasm)

[Missouri]

Local ping.

[Lazamataz]

TERRORISM!

Or an accident.

[cmsgop]

just for the hell of it....

Al-Qaida could also target "liquid natural gas, chemical or petrochemical sites near major population centers using multiple vehicle-born improvised explosive devices similar to those recently seen in the attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Istanbul, Turkey,"

[76834]

Lets just pray that the driver got out OK and no one was hurt.

[PokeyJoe]

Let me know what happens. I've got to take a shower.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Darn! I could have used that gas for my global warming causing, environment destroying, baby running over, HUGE, evil, monster, SUV...

[WorkingClassFilth]

The driver OK?

[CARDINALRULES]

Witnesses say the driver didn't have time to get out before it exploded. 1 fatality.

Not listed here yet.

[kinghorse]

*pin drops*

[stlnative]

Emergency crews are on the scene of a tractor-trailer explosion on I-70 08:56 PM CST on Monday, November 24, 2003
(St. Louis-AP/KMOV) -- Eastbound Interstate 70 has been shut down in St. Louis near Union Boulevard due to a tractor-trailer fire.
KMOV/SkyZoom4 The tractor trailer burst into flames at around 7:30 p.m. on eastbound 70.
Emergency officials are on the scene.

For those of you that do not know the area I-70 has center lanes (Express Lanes) set up from downtown at the arch to Union Blvd. There are actually 3 sets of lanes on this stretch of I-70... The middle set of lanes are open in the morning heading towards downtown (east), then they reverse them (west) in during the evening rush hour... The express lanes end and merge into the regular west bound lanes right pass Union Blvd. Chances are the tanker was on the express and hit a car when he was merging into the regular west bound lanes or a car on the express hit the truck when it was merging into the regular west bound lanes.

They just got done reconstructing this area due to all the accidents that occurred in the past from the merging express lanes in to regular west bound lanes. Once you are on the express lanes you cannot get off it except near the arch or at Union Blvd. During the morning it is open for access for the east bound traffic, in the evening they reverse it and open it for the west bound traffic.

[Missouri]

Latest update from the St. Louis Post-dispatch internet site.

Fiery truck crash closes I-70 BY GREG JONSSON AND TODD C. FRANKEL Post-Dispatch 11/24/2003

St. Louis firefighters battle a tractor-trailer that exploded into flames Monday night after apparently hitting a parked vehicle at eastbound Interstate 70 and Bircher Avenue. (Andrew Cutraro/P-D)

A fiery tractor-trailer crash closed Interstate 70 at Union Boulevard in St. Louis for several hours Monday night, with authorities expecting to reopen the eastbound lanes in time for today's morning rush hour.

The truck struck an abandoned vehicle parked on the eastbound interstate shoulder just before the Union Boulevard overpass at about 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Fire spokeswoman Kim Bacon said. The truck then lost control and struck a bridge pillar, leading to several powerful explosions.

The truck appeared to be hauling paper and office products, Bacon said. Flames and fire quickly consumed the vehicle.

"You can't even tell it's a tractor trailer," said a firefighter watching the smoldering wreckage.

A person believed to be the truck driver was found dead at the scene.

Fire officials did not identify the truck driver or the truck's owner. The cab was reduced to rubble, the trailer a burnt frame, and paper and boxes were strewn across the road.

"It's going to be very hard to identify it because there's not much left of it," Bacon said.

The abandoned car struck by the tractor trailer was seen parked on the highway shoulder at 5 a.m. Monday, said Don Houston, who drives I-70 daily. "A few people were swerving to avoid hitting it this morning."

The truck explosions, which occurred near the entrance to the eastbound express lanes, were heard from blocks away.

"I heard boom, boom, boom," said Tito Meadows, 57, who was at home watching TV Monday night. "I thought it was a gas line at first."

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Target practice? Just wait until those radiation loaded trucks drive past your town on their way west to Yucca Mtn. One hand held rocket launcher is all it will take to wipe out each city.

[Plutarch]

Must have been a movie crew nearby. In a movie if you ever see a tanker truck, it will blow up.