A tanker truck leaking a corrosive chemical forced the closure of North Center Avenue on Hayden Island Monday morning, cutting off one of just three public roads on the island near the Interstate 5 interchange. Portland Fire & Rescue responded to the hazardous materials spill near North Center Avenue and Hayden Island Drive, where a placard on the truck indicated it was carrying a corrosive substance.
According to KATU, the tanker has a 34,000-gallon capacity and was experiencing a free-flowing leak of acid from the back of the truck, per reporting attributed to KATU reporter Mike Warner. Separately, KGW reported an estimated spill volume of upwards of 100 gallons, leaving the two initial estimates of the leak’s actual size unresolved. Fire officials closed North Center Avenue to all traffic while the response unfolded, and the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Portland Bureau of Transportation responded with large amounts of absorbent material to contain the corrosive liquid.
Why a Single Road Closure Hits So Hard
The closure is more disruptive than it might sound elsewhere in Portland. North Center Avenue, North Hayden Island Drive, and North Tomahawk Island Drive are the only three public roads on the island, meaning a blockage on any one of them directly chokes off access to local businesses, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation planning study. Most of the island’s other roadways are private access drives maintained by commercial developments, the same study notes.
That access matters because Hayden Island is home to roughly 2,155 permanent residents and 238 active businesses employing nearly 3,000 people near the Jantzen Beach retail corridor, per the WSDOT study, with the population swelling further during summer boating season. The island sits between the Columbia River and North Portland Harbor, and its position adjacent to the I-5 interchange means any incident near the corridor also draws attention from regional freight planners, since the crossing carries heavy interstate commercial traffic between Portland and Vancouver, according to Clark County Today.
Identifying the Chemical Before It Can Be Cleaned Up
ODOT and PBOT plan to abate the spill once the material is formally identified, per KATU’s reporting. That identification work typically falls to Portland Fire & Rescue’s Station 7 in Mill Park, which houses the agency’s State of Oregon Regional Hazardous Materials Team and is certified to handle chemical emergencies across Portland and Columbia County, according to the Portland Fire & Rescue website. The specialized unit operates dedicated hazmat apparatus and air monitoring equipment built for exactly this kind of unknown-substance response…