By Alexandra Cheney
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — A stretch of Broadway was temporarily closed Thursday afternoon after a car crash caused an oil spill on the street, police and fire officials said.
The incident occurred just after 12 p.m., forcing firefighters to cover the length of the road between 76th and 77th streets with a quick-dry mixture resembling sand or sawdust to soak up the oil.
“I thought it was water at first, but then it looked all brown,” said Marianne Heslin, a waitress at Big Nick’s Burger Joint on the west side of Broadway, where the spill happened.
“There was lots and lots of oil,” she added. “And then they just dumped a whole lot of sand on it.”
Alfredo Hernandez, who works at the West Side Market on the same block, said he saw the oil leaking out but didn’t witness the accident.
“There was a car coming… and then oil spilled everywhere,” he said.
The stretch was reopened to traffic shortly after the spill.
