Wind causing issues for road crews, making roads slick

UPDATE: Police say motorists in Cedar Rapids have done a good job heeding warnings about the winter storm. Police responded to only seven accidents from midnight to 10 a.m. today, and no injuries were reported in any of them.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said Interstate 380 south of Cedar Rapids remains especially treacherous as of 1 p.m. Wright Brothers Boulevard SW and the intersection of 76th Avenue and 18th Street SW were also problem areas.

“The DOT is doing a good job, but they're scraping off the snow, and then the wind is blowing over, polishing it off and making it slick,” Hamblin said.

Update on Cedar Rapids roads

Craig Hanson, the Cedar Rapids public works maintenance manager, says city crews had cleaned all of the city's main streets and many of the residential streets by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, but three culprits will still make driving in the city something of a challenge.

The first: Many on city's snow crew has put in 16 hours, and must now take at least an 8-hour break before returning to the streets. Secondly, high winds continue to blow snow back on to streets. And thirdly, temperatures have dropped below 23 degrees, which prevents salt from melting snow on the roads.

As a result, the city is bringing in more sand from a local quarry and will be putting more sand than salt on the streets, Hanson said.

Hanson said it might be until Monday before temperatures climb high enough for city streets to get down to bare pavement in many spots.

Even so, as of late morning on Wednesday, motorists in the city had access to most of the city, Hanson said. Drifting snow, particularly on the city's outskirts, could change that as the day wears on.

Road closures in Cedar Rapids

The wind speed is above 20 miles per hour with gusts above 30 miles per hour. Drifting is causing issues on the outer areas of the city.

Effective immediately, 26th Street SW between 60th Avenue and 76th Avenue is closed because of snow drifts. It will be closed for at least a week. 18th Street SW south of Nordstrom Direct on 76th Avenue is also closing because of drifting. The roads south of 60th Avenue SW all have drifts of varying size.

Crews on Thursday will work on clearing the drifts after the winds subside.

Highways around Cedar Rapids are open

Every state highway in the Cedar Rapids metro area is open and should remain open, Randy Roethlisberger, Iowa Department of Transportation garage operations assistant, reported at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Roethlisberger said most of the highways in the metro area – Highway 30, Interstate 380, Highway 151 from Amana to Anamosa and Highway 13 to Central City – are apt to remain snow-packed, but he said he did not expect drifting snow to shut roads because of a lack of snow in ditches prior to the storm.

DOT crews had stopped working for a time Wednesday in some parts of the state, but Roethlisberger said that would not be the case in the Cedar Rapids metro area.

Stay off I-380

Police are urging motorists to stay off Interstate 380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

“The Department of Transportation is doing their best on the interstate, but due to Mother Nature's busy work the interstate is quickly covered up again, making driving dangerous,” Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said.

Numerous cars, trucks, sport-utility vehicles and semi tractor-trailers are sliding into the ditch. Hamblin says law enforcement is required to drive to the location, make sure the people are not hurt and then transport them to safety. The vehicles will be left in the ditch and will not be towed until it can be done safely which could be a few days.

Police say only travel when necessary.

Iowa City roads

At 11:30 a.m., John Sobaski, assistant streets superintendent for the city of Iowa City, reported that Iowa City's plowing crews had worked through the night Tuesday into Wednesday and would continue to work around the clock.

Sobaski said all the city's main roads were open and passable and city crews also were working on residential streets. But he added that drifting might make driving on some outlying streets difficult later in the day. Crews will remove snow from the downtown this evening and continue plowing elsewhere in the city, he said.

Linn County roads

Linn County road crews started plowing at 4 a.m. Wednesday, and by 11 a.m. they had plowed all the major county roads and most of the residential developments. Crews also were out on gravel roads, reported Pat Keating, the county's road maintenance supervisor.

Keating, however, said the wind is sending drifts of snow back across the plowed roadways, defeating some of the work already completed.

Keating said most of what has been plowed is passable, but once the crews come in at 3:30 p.m. for the day, conditions will begin to deteriorate as snow continues to drift. Crews will be back at it at 4 a.m. on Thursday, he said.

Statewide

Hundreds of motorists have been stranded on Iowa roads as the dangerous storm makes roads in some spots impassable.

Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman with the Iowa Department of Transportation, says hundreds of motorists were stranded overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Many have been rescued, but Greene says dozens remain stranded and are waiting in blizzard conditions for help to arrive.

She says several motorists are stranded on both sides of 10-foot drifts that cross Iowa Highway 6 between Council Bluffs and Oakland in southwest Iowa.

Greene says that depending on the circumstances, a stranded motorist may have to wait at least two hours and likely longer before crews can reach them.

She says state troopers are going out with Iowa National Guard soldiers in Humvees to assist motorists who become stranded.