OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The northbound lanes of I-75 reopened Friday morning in Oakland County after shutting down Thursday afternoon due to a tanker truck fire.
Northbound I-75 just north of I-696 reopened to traffic as of 7:41 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 4. That part of the freeway shut down at around 6 p.m. the day before, after a large tanker truck caught fire.
The truck was carrying hot asphalt, ended up catching fire, and pulled over to the median wall, officials reported. The fire was extinguished, but asphalt did get on the freeway and needed to be cleared off.
The fire also damaged the median wall and the roadway. Crews were determining if that part of the wall was salvageable.
You can see Thursday’s footage from the scene in the video player below.
All four lanes of northbound I-75 were closed at 11 Mile Road, with traffic building up Friday morning just south of the closure. The freeway was reopened to traffic Friday morning, but some backups were still expected.
The scene was cleared of the truck and law enforcement and emergency vehicles by Friday morning, but crews were still carrying out inspections to determine if the road and wall were safe. The truck had to be hauled off the freeway using two tow trucks because the vehicles tires were burned and unusable.
No injuries were reported from the incident.