The Ice Man Cometh

Ice paralyzes area roads
December 26, 2008 at 8:51 AM



Some of the worst icy driving conditions in years hit the Chicago area early this morning, causing crashes too numerous to count.

"If we had the manpower, we'd close down every expressway in the area," a harried Illinois State Police dispatcher said this morning. State police called out day-shift troopers two hours early to handle the crisis.

Every expressway had multiple crashes in both directions -- even with many drivers creeping along at 5 to 10 m.p.h. Those going any faster often found they couldn't control their vehicles. The most recent incidents involved a jackknifed semi blocking all lanes of the outbound Stevenson near Ill. Hwy. 53 and icy conditions blocking all lanes on I-80/94 between the Illinois state line and Indianapolis Blvd.

And conditions were bad enough that officials closed the entire Indiana Tollway -- from the Illinois border to the Ohio border for a time. It's open again now -- but conditions remain icy.

CTA and Metra were reporting substantial delays on buses and trains, as well as some service suspension.

Police in southwest suburban Lemont took the unusual step of closing the entire village to traffic for about two hours, then reopened some key thoroughfares.

A freezing rain advisory elapsed at 6 a.m. The system started moving into the area around 2:30 a.m. and quickly spread over the entire metropolitan region, coating all roads with a thin, treacherous coat of ice.

The problem is expected to end as temperatures climb this morning, reaching the 40s later in the day. But until then, police warned drivers to slow way down or, better yet, to not even go out.


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Good thing I made the midnight trek last night!