Semi Crashes Full of 80,000 Pounds of Potatoes & Shuts Down SR-18

A truck hauling around 80,000 pounds of potatoes crashed and caused a mess today, both with traffic and actually on the highway itself.

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The crash happened near milepost around 7:30 am, according to Rick Johnson with the Washington State Patrol, and forced a temporary shutdown of the westbound lanes with crews clearing the scene.

Semi Crash Spills Heavy Load, and a Lot of Food

It is not every day that many potatoes are spilled on the highway, but just how many are we really talking about?

From the photos, it is hard to tell how many were damaged inside or spilled out when the trailer was tipped back over. Let's calculate the worst-case scenario.

Based on average weight, that load is about 240,000 individual potatoes.

And if those had made it to your plate instead of the highway?

About 160,000 large orders of fries (think McDonald's size)
Nearly 444,000 hash browns
Around 40,000 bags of frozen fries
Or roughly 160,000 servings of mashed potatoes

Traffic Impact on SR-18 Lasted Hours

Trooper Johnson warned drivers that once a tow truck arrived, all westbound lanes would need to shut down, and delays were expected.

Anyone who drives that corridor knows it does not take much to create backups along SR-18, especially during the morning hours.

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A couple of hours later, around 11:30 am, Trooper Johnson shared an update that the scene had been cleared and the roadway was fully reopened, getting traffic back to normal.

The spilled potatoes, however, are lost forever.