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Battery acid spills in Ashland photo by Jim Craven Ashland Water Department employees Pat Huff, left, and Sean Vicino clean up soda ash used to neutralize battery acid that spilled Thursday outside the Oregon Shakespeare Festival offices. The batteries fell from the truck at center. Crews clean up mess made when batteries fell from truck ASHLAND -- That white stuff city workers were shoveling downtown Thursday morning wasn't snow. Using dirt, baking soda and soda ash, the workers were cleaning up an acid spill caused when batteries fell out of a city truck and leaked. Their glass cases cracked. The spill prompted police to restrict traffic on Main Street to one lane from the Plaza to Pioneer Street, but it was not serious enough to shut down all traffic. Public Works Director Paula Brown said the truck belongs to the water quality division but was being driven by an employee from another department. It was headed down Pioneer Street after 10 a.m. when it attempted to turn right onto Main Street. "He did not make the turn, skidded into the intersection, and a significant number of batteries fell out of the truck," Brown said. "It was the acid we were concerned about and we treated it as a hazardous material. The biggest worry we had was about people tracking it all over." Brown said about a dozen batteries, apparently from the city water treatment plant, were in the truck in glass cases. Sulfuric acid, a highly corrosive liquid, was the material believed to have been spilled. City workers used dirt, baking soda and soda ash to neutralize the acid, and Brown said the material was shoveled into barrels and hauled off for proper disposal. As a further precaution, city workers closed off parts of sidewalks on Main Street and Pioneer Way while they cleaned up the spill. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA