Tanker truck overturns in Platte County. Missouri 45 closed near Farley
A tanker truck overturned onto railroad tracks near Farley in rural Platte County Thursday, leaking diesel fuel and liquid nitrogen, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said.
The crash has forced Missouri 45 to be shut down between Main Street in Farley and Grass Pad Road just north of the village. The highway will remain closed while crews offload the liquid nitrogen, which is used for fertilizer, onto another truck, said Capt. Jeffrey Shanks with the Platte County Sheriff’s Office.
“We don’t have any risk to the public right now,” Shanks said. “The tanker was leaking, but they were actually a little more concerned about the diesel fuel that was leaking out of the tanks.”
The crash occurred shortly before noon as the truck was attempting to turn from Missouri 45 onto Oberdiek Lane while heading to a farm in the area, Shanks said.
The semi and tanker trailer rolled over, blocking the tracks that run parallel to Missouri 45, Shanks said.
Because of the leak, hazardous materials crews from the Kansas City Fire Department and Southern Platte Fire Protection District responded to the area, said Division Chief Chris Denney with the Southern Platte Fire Protection District.
No one was injured in the crash, Denney said, but it blocked the railroad tracks, so train traffic also has been stopped along the tracks.
BNSF Railway representatives have responded to the area as well, Shanks said.
Crews were transferring the liquid nitrogen to another truck to make it easier to upright the overturned tanker. It was not known how much liquid nitrogen the tanker truck was hauling. The cause of the crash was also unknown and was under investigation, Shanks said.
Shanks said he was grateful that there were no injuries. He said the situation could have been a lot worse.
“We could have been trying to have to evacuate a big area,” he said. “There aren’t too many residences out here, but luckily, this, you know, was nitrogen fertilizer. It was going to get spread on the crop land anyway.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM.
