Flatbed truck rolls over and spills tens of thousands of pounds of fish onto Juneau road

Juneau police say a flatbed tuck carrying thousands of pounds of chum salmon tipped over while driving on Egan Drive Monday, spilling its contents onto the road and delaying commuters.

Egan Drive inbound was "completely blocked," a Juneau Police Department Facebook post said around 5 p.m.

Traffic was redirected at a nearby intersection, said Lt. David Campbell, as motorists were advised to avoid the area and use Glacier Highway via Channel Vista to drive into downtown Juneau.

Updates on the police department's Facebook page indicate it took about three hours to get Egan Drive cleared and sanded.

Four officers and local fire personnel responded to the rollover, Campbell said. The driver of the truck was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital with minor injuries, he said.

The truck's load of salmon tumbled onto the road out of gray bins. Campbell did not know who the truck belonged to but said it's likely a local commercial fish processing outfit.

According to KTOO production manager Mikko Wilson's Twitter account, Taku Fisheries says 16,000 pounds of fish will have to be thrown out as it's considered contaminated.The cause of the crash is unknown, Campbell said.

As for the fish?

"We don't do cleanups like that," Campbell said. The company that owns the flatbed truck responded and tossed the fish back in the bins.

"The scene smells a bit fishy," police said as the efforts unfolded.