Mystery liquid gushing from freeway wall on I-696 backs up traffic, closes lane

Bill Laitner | Detroit Free Press

The closure of the right lane of eastbound I-696 in Madison Heights — about ½-mile before the Oakland-Macomb county line at Dequindre — is expected to continue well into Friday night as authorities keep motorists away from a mysterious chemical spill.

The right lane and shoulder will stay closed "as long as it takes" to get a hazardous-material crew at the scene and clean up an unidentified liquid that's mysteriously spurting from a freeway wall, said Diane Cross of the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Investigators from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are inspecting the surrounding area to find the source of the yellowish-green liquid, Cross said.

State Police closed the right lane and shoulder of the freeway on Friday afternoon, causing a rush-hour backup on the freeway where it parallels 10 Mile Road at Couzens.

Investigators are checking industrial sites on 10 Mile, above where the material is entering the highway through a retaining wall, Cross said.

“There’s a grassy slope that comes down to the concrete wall, and this liquid is coming out of there. We don’t know if it’s something that happened on the service drive and flowed down or something that’s coming from a business along there,” Cross said.

“Until we get it totally cleaned up, we’re going to keep that right lane closed. Especially when you don’t know what it is, you don’t want to take a chance,” she said.

According to a release from the Macomb County Public Works office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing the material and results are expected to be released Saturday.

"The federal EPA and state EGLE, as well as the Madison Heights Fire Department, are on site and my staff is in close communication with them to ensure that this material is captured before it can migrate to the lake," said Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller.

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Contact: blaitner@freepress.com