A state highway was closed Monday for several hours because an illegal u-turn in Bliss.

Idaho State Police says a driver on US-26 missed his turn-off to Hagerman and tired an illegal u-turn at the Bliss exit.

The turn caused his tractor and trailer to come apart and caused the accident.

"It had snapped or sheared off and caused one of his tankers to roll more than once," says ISP Trooper Steve Otto.

The tanker landed on its side and a 1,000 gallons of fuel leaked through it's hatch and onto the ground.

Several houses and a hotel were evacuated and a nearby school and gas station were shut down.

"If there's an explosion, you're going to have a lot of scrap metal along with the blast itself and that'll cause some chaos," says Otto.

Gas station employees closed their doors until the spill was cleaned up.

"Still have people on payroll and we've got them on standby right now, even though we've got no income right now until we start to open," says gas station owner Steve Goolsby.

No one was injured in the spill and ISP said fuel was pumped out of the tanker after a few hours and taken away.