Crash clogs 403 commute

(Updated)

It’s been slow going on the roads this winter, mainly because of poor weather, and driving conditions. But on a bright, sunny, morning Wednesday, we got one of the worst traffic jams we’ve seen for months. Hundreds of cars, heading for Toronto backed up, and trapped on the eastbound 403 for hours.

The problem originated from a crash between a taxi-cab and a tanker truck just west of Waterdown Road around seven o’clock this morning. No one was hurt, but the vehicles involved blocked two of the eastbound lanes. However all lanes were closed for several hours because of a fuel leak from the tanker.

Both OPP and the MTO were on the scene until the spill could be cleared, and the vehicles removed.

Desperate drivers trying to make their way around the crash scene fanned out onto Plains Road in Burlington — and soon after, it too was jammed.

Farhat Nasim works at LaSalle Esso at Plains and LaSalle Park Rd, and says her morning was filled with frustrated drivers: “When I came here, (there was) lots of traffic, the customers were pissed off, they said it’s horrible traffic outside, three hours from Hamilton to here and everybody going to the washroom, they’ve emptied their fuel tanks, they are so hungry so they are very bad timing and continuously three to four hours I (had) huge traffic here, so our customers in a bad shape today.”

The traffic mess spilled all the way back to Hamilton. Drivers trying to get on the 403 from both King Street and York Boulevard and crawling through back streets. All in all, a rough morning for anyone trying to make the morning commute.