Several lanes of northbound Legacy Parkway near the 500 South exit in Woods Cross were blocked Friday after a hazardous materials spill forced drivers off the highway early. The lanes were still closed as of 1 p.m., with the exact substance involved not disclosed.
Traffic Forced Off at 500 South
According to KUTV, drivers were forced to exit at 500 South as crews worked to contain the spill on the northbound lanes. The station, whose report carries the bulk of the details on Friday's incident, noted that the Utah Department of Transportation had estimated the scene would be cleared by 12:50 p.m., though lanes remained shut well past that projection. The type of hazardous material spilled has not been made public.
Clean Earth operates a hazardous waste service center near 500 South, handling the treatment, transfer, and disposal of industrial chemical waste, per Clean Earth.
Why Trucks Carrying Hazmat Are Even Allowed Here
Legacy Parkway wasn't always open to this kind of cargo. For its first 12 years after opening in 2008, the highway prohibited large semi-trucks and enforced a strict 55 mph speed limit under a legal compromise struck between the state and environmental groups, according to the Utah State Senate. That ban, along with the speed cap, expired on January 1, 2020, when the legislature let the statutory restriction sunset. UDOT's own pre-2020 speed studies had already found that 85% of drivers were traveling at 70 mph regardless of the posted limit, a finding the agency used to justify raising the speed limit to 65 mph once the old agreement lapsed.
Local leaders saw trouble coming. Municipal officials from Woods Cross, Bountiful, and North Salt Lake formally petitioned the Utah Transportation Commission in late 2019 to cap the speed limit at 60 mph, worried that combining heavy trucks with higher speeds would hit residents hard. The cited material documents those concerns before the restrictions expired. Those concerns were discussed in public comments at a Utah Transportation Commission meeting.
Who Responds When Chemicals Spill on the Corridor
The reported hazardous-material spill on this stretch of Davis County affected traffic. The account focuses on the spill and resulting traffic diversion.
The account does not identify a local company connected to Friday's spill. Friday's spill touches on concerns local officials have raised for years about mixing industrial cargo with commuter traffic.
A Corridor With a Recent History of Closures
Friday's spill adds to a string of disruptions on Legacy Parkway near this same interchange. A separate report discussed an incident near the 500 South off-ramp. Facebook posts discuss UDOT I-15 environmental-study and interchange proposals near Woods Cross.
