Slick roads Wednesday contribute to spate of 20 accidents

MAT-SU — A late-season snowstorm unleashed first-day-of-winter-level traffic chaos up and down the Parks Highway Wednesday.

“Most everything was just due to slick conditions,” Mat-Su Borough Deputy Director for Emergency Services for Emergency Medical Response Clint Vardeman said after running through the day’s call log.

All-told, between Vardeman’s outline and Alaska State Troopers reports, the Frontiersman tallied 20 traffic accidents that generated calls for help. Vardeman agreed that the call volume was much higher than on a typical day, and that it felt like a first snowfall kind of a response.

“This has been a very strange winter,” he said.

Here’s the rundown of all the car wrecks, based mostly on Vardeman’s account, but with a few AST reports tossed in as noted:

• 5:55 a.m.: A car ran off the road.

• 6:08 a.m., Parks Highway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway. One patient sent to the hospital.

• 7:17 a.m., Glenn Highway near the Parks Highway interchange: According to troopers, Cynthia Burton, 56, Palmer, was southbound when she lost control on the ice and hit the guardrail, damaging 100 feet of it. Burton was cited for driving too fast for conditions. Damage to her 2001 Chevy Silverado was estimated at $7,000.

• 7:28 a.m., Glenn Highway at the Knik River Bridge: Patient declined a trip to the hospital.

• 7:40 a.m., northbound on the Parks Highway: A car went into the ditch.

• 8:02 a.m., Old Glenn Highway at the Knik River Bridge: This one is probably best left to Vardeman’s own words: “apparently, somebody drove into the ditch and got himself out because we never found anything.”

• 7:57 a.m., Parks Highway by the Windbreak Restaurant: Someone hit a light pole, but declined medical treatment

Right about here, at 8:24 a.m., Alaska State Troopers sent a mass email urging caution.

“Troopers in the Valley are responding to many vehicle collisions from Seward Meridian to the Knik Bridge,” it reads. “Essentially, the Glenn Highway inbound to Anchorage is ‘interesting at the moment,’ according to Troopers in the Valley,” AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen wrote.

• 9 a.m., Parks Highway near Trunk Road Exit: According to troopers, Ashley Williams, 19, lost control and hit a road sign doing $500 damage to her Chevy Trailblazer.

• 9:33 a.m., Parks Highway past Trunk Road: According to troopers, Danielle Lautzenhiser, 35, Wasilla, had a tire blow out on her 2004 Dodge Durango and hit a 2006 Pontiac driven by Edwin Hubert, 61, Wasilla. “A third vehicle was behind these vehicles and went into the ditch and struck a light pole and knocked the light pole down onto the highway,” according to an AST press release. That third vehicle was piloted by Stephanie Nielson, 45, Wasilla.

• 11:43 a.m., Knik-Goose Bay Road and Fairview Loop: One patient taken to the hospital.

• 3:35 p.m., Parks Highway and Main Street: Everyone involved declined treatment.

• 4:44 p.m., East Meadow Drive and Serrano Drive: Low-speed school bus crash with no injuries.

• 6:33 p.m., W. Parks and W. Armstrong Road: All patients refused care.

• 6:57 p.m., Seward Meridian Parkway and E. Bogard Road: No one hurt.

• 7:23 p.m. N. Church Road and Parks Highway: Three patients went to the hospital.

• 7:55 p.m., Parks Highway and Trunk Road: One person taken to the hospital.

• 8:10 p.m., Glenn Highway south of Parks Highway interchange: One patient transported to the hospital.

• 8:21 p.m., Glenn Highway in-bound to Anchorage: The patient declined treatment.

• 9:16 p.m., Parks Highway. and Hyer Road: One patient taken to the hospital.

• 11:50 p.m., Parks Highway and Museum Drive: A car went into the ditch.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.