Snowfall causes headaches for local drivers

WASILLA — Roads covered in snow and ice sent motorists skidding into ditches Monday morning as the first significant snowfall caused havoc for morning commuters.

Between 7:30 a.m. and about noon, borough officials had responded to four motor vehicle accidents on Valley roads, though none had resulted in serious injuries, said Emergency Services deputy director Ken Barkley. The most serious call involved a man who reported chest pains, and was transported to a local hospital code yellow. As emergency responders were responding to that call, a dump truck and a nearly-empty school bus (only the driver was aboard) collided about 300 feet away.

Far more vehicles found themselves in the ditches alongside the Glenn Highway, where the morning commute featured well over a dozen disabled vehicles between Wasilla and Anchorage — and that was by 8 a.m.

Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said that agency alone had responded to 37 reports of vehicles in the ditch on Monday through about 3:30 p.m.

The Department of Transportation had issued several advisories for are roads, including long stretches of the Glenn Highway from Anchorage into the Valley, and as far north as the Kings River road. The Parks Highway was listed as “difficult” driving from the Glenn-Parks interchange north through the Susitna Valley.

Information for specific wrecks or collisions wasn’t available, in part because Troopers were too busy to report them, spokeswoman Megan Peters wrote in an e-mail.

“I don’t have any wreck-specific information today, our guys are swamped,” she wrote.

Barkley suggested motorists who find themselves drifted off area roadways should call 911 immediately. Motorists should also avoid leaving the car, or stopping in the roadway to check on wrecks they encounter, Barkley said.

“The main thing is to let ‘em know your location and the number and condition of each passenger,” he said.

Public works trucks in Wasilla had hit the roads for the first big snow event of the year, said public works director Archie Giddings. The department can’t know how the winter will impact their funding for things like road salt and sand, but said they had some sand reserves built up from last year’s anemic snowfall rates.

The warm fall weather this year had helped, too, Giddings said.

“October was kind to us,” he said.

Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan said many of the borough's 16 road service contractors had already begun working when snow fell.

As many as four inches of snow had accumulated on some roads, Dolan said.

In a typical snow event, the borough’s four maintenance supervisors hit the roads to make sure the contractors — who answer to the Road Service Area supervisors — are meeting their obligation. Much of the time, the contractors call the borough to notify them that they're beginning work.

“With four supervisors looking at 1,000 miles of road, it's very hard for me to monitor what's going on,” he said.

The borough has established a hotline designed to handle complaints or reports. That phone number is 861-7755.

“Residents pay a lot of property taxes to have those roads cleared,” he said. “If they’re not getting the service they deserve, then I’m happy to hear from them.”

The National Weather Service was predicting a chance for snow and rain through the weekend and temperatures at or above freezing for the rest of the week. The service had recorded less than an inch of snowfall at the Palmer airport starting Monday morning.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.