Trucks roll westbound past a jackknifed tractor trailer on I-70 in Foristell. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Interstates might be open. The snowplows might have cleared roads. Still, the State Highway Patrol cautions motorists to be careful out there.
The blizzard has passed, leaving behind several inches of snow over nearly all of Missouri. Road crews have been working to get things back to normal. State Highway Patrol Captain Tim Hull reminds us they aren’t back to normal yet.
“We’re still urging motorists and citizens to limit travel if you get out at all,” Hull says. “Again, because the roads are still mostly covered. It’s still treacherous out there, even though they are passable.”
The Missouri Department of Transportation closed I-70 overnight after struggling to clear the interstate in the mid-section of Missouri. Whiteout conditions and stranded vehicles hampered the efforts of snow plow crews. MoDOT re-opened the interstate this morning. Later in the day, it re-opened I-44 between Springfield and the Oklahoma state line. That interstate has finally been re-opened in Oklahoma, but an accident in that state has backed up traffic.
Click on the MoDOT Traveler Information Map here.
Hull says now that the roads have been plowed, bitter temperatures moving into the state pose a secondary problem.
“Looks like extreme cold temperatures and wind chills, which can be very dangerous in and of themselves, but especially if you break down or slide off the road and have to walk for a distance in that,” says Hull.
Hull says the Patrol had every trooper on hand for the snowstorm, canceling any days off. The biggest task was to clear I-70 of stranded vehicles so the road crews could clear the interstate to re-open it.
AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:60 MP3]
