A portion of the northwest leg of the Inner Dispersal Loop was closed Thursday morning when a tanker truck with 18,000 gallons of crude oil crashed. 

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation says the overturned tanker is on the exit ramp from Interstate 244 eastbound to the L.L. Tisdale Expressway northbound. The accident closed the Tisdale onramp from northbound highway 75 for several house but that wasn't the only issue.

Once the truck hit a barrier and turned onto its side, the opil began to leak. When KRMG news arrived on the scene there was a river of crude running from the top of the ramp toward the overpass of 244.

To hold back the oil, Tulsa police and fire crews grabbed picks and shovels and built a series of short walls. Those walls created small ponds of the liquid and prevented most of it from seeping into the grass or leaking onto the roadway below. 

Paul Ator with HAZMAT told KRMG news why that was necessary. "It is crude so it's considered a flammable liquid" Ator began. He went on "we're trying to save the environment as much as we can because it will contaminate the ground water,"

Tulsa police and fire told KRMG they expect the ramp will be open again sometime midday. The driver was hurt but we're told none of his injuries were life threatening.