Truck trailer tips in Vernon Hills, snarles traffic on busy roads

A section of one of central Lake County's busiest roads was shut down for several hours Wednesday, snarling morning rush-hour motorists, after a truck's trailer tipped over in Vernon Hills.

No one was seriously injured in the 6:20 a.m. accident on Route 60 at Butterfield Road, said Batallion Chief Kevin Wodrich of the Countryside Fire Protection District.

The truck was pulling two trailers. One of the trailers tipped onto its side as the truck was turning from southbound Butterfield Road onto eastbound Route 60, Vernon Hills police said.

The Con-way Freight truck was hauling two 300-gallon tanks of potassium hydroxide and two 300-gallon tanks of phosphoric acid, the fire department said in a news release, and the tanks leaked.

The load likely shifted during the turn, police said.

A hazardous-materials team stopped the leaks so workers could clean up the mess.

Butterfield Road reopened before noon, and the trailer was uprighted about 1 p.m., authorities said. Route 60 remained closed until about 2 p.m., however, until crews finished cleaning up the scene.

Firefighters from Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, Buffalo Grove, and Wauconda also assisted on the scene.

Because Route 60 and Butterfield are so heavily traveled, several other roads in the area were affected Wednesday. Motorists on Route 83 through Long Grove, Diamond Lake Road in Mundelein and Route 45 in Mundelein found themselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic because of the accident.

Officers from Mundelein, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire and the state police helped reroute traffic, Vernon Hills police said.

The truck driver was ticketed for spilling the load, police said. He was identified as David M. Bundy Jr., 34, of the 1200 block of Foxcroft Drive, Aurora.