The total closure of the Ring Road, near the Universitário neighborhood, in the northern region of Belo Horizonte, following an accident with a paint truck, has already lasted 20 hours. The lanes have been painted white since 9pm this Thursday (2), when the vehicle hit a wall protecting the road and spilled its load. Cleaning began at 12:30 pm and should last three to five hours.
At 4:30 pm, the ring road recorded 6 km of congestion towards Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and 1 km towards Vitória (ES). Due to the total blockage of the section, traffic only flows along the marginal roads.
The accident
On Thursday night (2), an accident with a truck caused paint to spill in both directions of the Ring Road. The vehicle carried 14 tons of gallons. A motorcyclist who was passing by was hit by one of the spilled gallons of paint and ended up falling off his motorcycle, being taken to the hospital in serious condition. The driver, 52 years old, had an expired driver’s license.
At around 8am this Friday (3), the vehicle’s insurance company informed that it needed quotes to determine a company to clean the road. The DNIT (National Department of Transport Infrastructure) contacted the company Ápia, which began carrying out the removal of the gallons and the bulk of the cleaning.
Two hours later, the insurance company informed that it had hired another provider. At around 12:30 pm, the company Cetric Emergencial reported that cleaning of the tracks had begun. An employee informed the Military Highway Police (PMRv) that the service should take three to five hours to complete.
*With information from Fabiano Frade
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