Coal spilled from a dump truck onto an area about 200 feet along Route 209 in Lansford Tuesday morning, shutting a small section of the highway for about 1 1/2 hours.

The incident happened shortly after 11 o'clock when a truck hauling rice or buckwheat coal dumped some of its load onto the northbound lane of Route 209.

Fire police from Coaldale, Lansford, and Summit Hill detoured traffic around the site. Northbound traffic was diverted onto Snyder Avenue. Southbound traffic was detoured onto Bersch Street in Lansford and East Phillips Street in Coaldale.

The spill happened between East Ridge Street in Coaldale and Parkway Road in Lansford.

The dump truck pulled over into the Boyer's Market parking lot in Lansford. Lansford police and state police from the Lehighton barracks questioned the driver and inspected the truck. It is not known if any citations were issued.

An employee of Lehigh Anthracite Coal used a front end loader to clear the coal off the highway.

A crew from the Lehighton office of PennDOT also was dispatched to the scene.

Jack Soberick, officer in charge of the Lansford Police Department, is the investigating officer.