Unexpected low temperatures led to freezing roads, multiple crashes

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The count is in -- 49 traffic accidents after a relatively small amount of snow turned to ice caught motorists and Cedar Rapids Streets crews by surprise late Sunday afternoon and evening.

Cedar Rapids police responded to those accidents to between 3 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday. Almost all were weather-related.

The most serious accident left one motorist -- Danielle Brazant, 24, of Cedar Rapids -- hospitalized after her vehicle collided with a Cedar Rapids patrol car on Sunday.

Police say Sgt. Michelle Smothers was parked in a marked squad car with emergency lights flashing to help direct traffic around an accident on Interstate 380 just after 5 p.m. Sunday when the car Brazant was driving slid to the left from a middle lane and struck the patrol car.

Brazant was ejected from her car by the impact.  She was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but police do not have any information on her condition Monday. Smothers was treated and released from a local hospital.

Two other people received minor injuries in the 49 crashes police investigated from late Sunday until early Monday. However, a total of four Cedar Rapids patrol cars were struck by other vehicles and damaged while providing coverage for other officers investigating property damage crashes.

Caught by surprise

Craig Hanson, Cedar Rapids Public Works maintenance manager, said plow drivers were unaware of any issues with slick roads and hills until the first call came in just before 6 p.m. on Sunday.  There were no crews on regular duty over the weekend to respond, so managers called in drivers to begin spreading salt and sand on the slick areas to aid with traction.  Due to the winter time schedule for drivers, a regular shift was scheduled to begin at 11 p.m. Sunday, Hanson said.  Those workers were called in three hours early to join the others already working overtime on the slick roads.

Hanson said a total of 12 spreaders worked Sunday evening, from the initial problem call until midnight.

At one time, the streets department proposed having crews on standby on weekends to respond to sudden events like Sunday's freezing weather.  However, that idea was never approved by the city council for budget reasons.

Hanson said crews had spread salt and sand for another storm on Friday.  Typically, salt will keep working melting snow and ice for 48 to 72 hours after it is applied.  However, temperatures dipped far below earlier weekend forecasts and made the salt much less effective at melting snow and ice.

City crews could have switched to a more expensive mixture of calcium chloride that works in colder temperatures, but the original forecast didn't make that seem necessary ahead of time, Hanson said.

Hanson measured barely more than half an inch of snow during the storm Sunday.  Typically, the city does not begin regular plowing operations until the snow accumulates to two or more inches.  He said a supervisor as late as mid Sunday afternoon was callingg the streets wet and not indicating any need to call in drivers.

The Iowa Department of Transportation maintenance garage in Cedar Rapids began calling in crews to both plow and spread ice melting materials at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.  A spokesperson said the DOT regularly uses calcium chloride in a brine mixture, and not salt, so the suddenly plummeting temperatures did not impact the effort on state roads.