Frustrated drivers sit on I-95 for hours

By Milton J. Valencia and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

NEWBURY -- The sun-dappled line of traffic on Interstate 95 this afternoon moved an inch at a time, feet dangling out windows, the sliding doors of minivans open to the breeze, and drivers stepping out from behind the wheel to stretch their legs on the pavement.

The bumper-to-bumper-to-bumper mess lasted for more than seven hours after a tanker truck flipped and spilled gasoline in Newburyport this morning, closing the interstate in both directions. Jack Foley, 73, learned that the hard way on his drive from Hampton, N.H., to play a round of golf in Rowley. The traffic trapped Foley in the morning on the way there and got him again this afternoon as he headed home -- after his round of golf.

"You figured it would be gone," Foley said. "It's extremely frustrating. I don't know why it takes six hours to move a truck and clear an accident. This is crazy to be this long."

It took 90 minutes to go a half mile. Kathy Murray had planned a quick 1.5-mile trip to Byfield to pick up her 17-year-old son.

"I can't get there," Murray said while stuck on the roadway, "and it's right there."