Stay off the road, stay home. Ice is no respecter of vehicle, tires, or people. It's not worth the risk tonight.
Icy roads wreaked havoc on Boulder County road on Wednesday evening after freezing drizzle began to fall, causing multiple car crashes and sending Longmont and Boulder into accident alerts.
“They are icy and deplorable,” said Longmont Police Sgt. James Sawinska. “We have been on accident alert since shortly after 5 p.m. in anticipation of the evening rush.”
Sawinska said that the icy roads were to blame for numerous crashes throughout the evening, including one near Ninth Avenue and Wade Road that knocked out power lines. He said there had been no reports of serious injuries.
“I’m thinking at this point that this will continue through the evening and into tomorrow,” Sawinska said Wednesday evening. “I don’t see this improving much between now and then.”
As of Wednesday night, the St. Vrain Valley and Boulder Valley school districts had not made a decision on whether to cancel classes on Thursday morning and officials said they would make those decisions closer to 5 a.m.
Longmont was the first to go on accident alert — when police ask drivers to exchange information and report crashes later if they don’t involve injuries, drunken or uninsured drivers and aren’t blocking traffic — but by the end of the evening, Boulder and the city and county of Broomfield had followed suit.
“We are having quite a few cars slipping and sliding everywhere,” Boulder Police Sgt. Michael Heath said Wednesday evening. “It’s not advisable to be out on the roads right now.”
Heath said that officers had to close roads near 11th Street and Marine because of icy conditions, and the city’s public works department had deployed trucks to sand the roads. Longmont’s public works department had also deployed trucks to apply de-icer to the streets.
Boulder County dispatch reported icy roads countywide that caused numerous crashes, made getting up hills a problem for some drivers and sent plow teams out to clear the roads.
Colo. 66 was closed temporarily at the 32 mile marker post on Wednesday evening after a vehicle crash downed power lines. There were also reports of a propane truck and tow truck sliding off icy roads.
The National Weather Service in Boulder and the Colorado State Patrol took to social media and urged drivers to stay off the roads if they could manage it. CSP announced in a tweet that Northern Colorado “is an ice rink and your car doesn’t have skates. PLEASE stay off the roads!”
The weather service predicted more freezing drizzle, snow and fog overnight into Thursday in Longmont. The high temperature on Thursday is expected to be about 37 degrees in Longmont with light winds, and more precipitation is not expected until Monday night.
John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme
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