CROWN POINT | A semitrailer load of human feces spilled on to Indiana 55 at Greenwood Avenue in Crown Point about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, closing a stretch of the road for most of the day.

The truck was hauling the treated human waste from the Portage Reclamation Facility, 5500 Old Porter Road, to a farm in Lowell when the tailgate opened, leaving a trail of sludge spanning 2,500 feet, Crown Point Fire Department officials said.

The spill closed northbound and southbound Indiana 55 at Franciscan Drive and Burrell Drive for cleanup. A front-loader was used to scoop up most of the spill before the Crown Point Fire Department hosed off the rest, said Mark Baumgardner Sr., the department's division chief of operations.

The truck driver told Crown Point Police he did not have paperwork for the load and was issued a citation by the Indiana Department of Transportation, police said.

The Crown Point Fire Department, Lake County Hazmat and the Indiana State Police responded to the spill, and the road was reopened just before 4 p.m.

Don Slawnikowski, the Portage facility's superintendent, said company has a biosolids permit to apply the sludge to farmland to be used as fertilizer.