ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Area roadways may have been in pretty good shape by Saturday evening, but 12 hours earlier, it was a different story. The rain converted to snow about 4:30 a.m., Saturday, and caused problems along Interstate 44, in particular.
Two tractor-trailers crashed on icy roads along I-44 westbound, on either side of the Beaumont-Antire Road overpass.
In one case, down the westbound hill on the west side of the overpass, the cab portion of the tractor-trailer became completely unattached, and was on its side, on the other side of the drainage ditch. St. Louis County Police say the driver of that rig was injured.
On the east side of the Beaumont-Antire overpass, another tractor-trailer jack-knifed, also in the westbound lanes. The two crash scenes backed up westbound traffic for hours.
Road-clearing efforts began hours earlier, shortly after the precipitation converted from rain to snow. MODOT officials held a pre-dawn news conference.
“We have every available driver out there,” said district engineer Tom Blair, “and every available truck.”
Maintenance engineer Bob Becker said, “If people are up and going and getting out this morning, I would advise them to be careful. Those roads are still wet, everywhere, and in some places, you’ll have slushy roads because of the intensity of the storms as the snow comes down.”
By noon, roads conditions were less hazardous.
At a gas station east of Eureka, Craig Van Ness said, “Yeah, the roads are pretty good. I just came from Pacific.”
Motorist Ashley Vigna said, “Just from getting off the highway, it’s very slick. Got to go very slow and take your time.”
Amber Lufkins and her family were traveling from New Mexico to Washington, D.C.
“Oh, this is a lot better than New Mexico,” said Lufkins, speaking of the road conditions. “We don’t have snow plows in New Mexico.”
A 5 On Your Side reporter pointed out she would see plenty of them in eastern Missouri, Saturday.
“Yes,” she said. “It was weird – I was like, what is that? And somebody said, ‘It’s a snow plow.’”
MODOT officials said re-freezing was likely to be an issue Saturday night and Sunday morning. MODOT moved crews from southeast Missouri to the St. Louis area to help out, Saturday, though the agency remains hundreds of employees short, statewide.