January 7, 2009
"I can't even stand up here on my feet."
What happened?
After a solid plowing effort most of the day Wednesday, local roads turned into "a skating rink," in the words of police in several towns by 8 and 9 p.m.
Though the storm seemed to have let up and roads seemed clear this afternoon, but things started icing up about 8 p.m., and by 9 p.m., police in Lowell, Billerica, Tewksbury, and especially state police were urgently requesting sand trucks at locations throughout the region.
Officers were throwing around terms like "skating rink," when referring to locations on Pond Street in Billerica, Interstate 495, and elsewhere.
There were reports of minor accidents in all the towns listed above, and at least two rollovers on Interstate 495. There was also a stretch of I-495 just north of Route 133 where at least six vehicles were off the road, including a tractor-trailer.
Sun Reporter John Collins passed that mess, and reported traffic was only moving about 5 mph on I-495 and Interstate 93 north.
At 9:30 p.m., a trooper just north of there reported that 30 to 40 cars had collided, and that he was closing all lanes of Interstate 495 just north of Interstate-93.
"I can't even stand up here on my feet," the trooper said. "This is a skating rink."
It was not immediately clear how many sand trucks were still out and about, but as UMass-Lowell Weather Center reported the temperature in Lowell had dropped to 25.9 degrees at 9 p.m., Lowell Police told one cruiser requesting a sander on Varnum Avenue that "they're limited force right now cause they're in a rest period."
State Police and several other towns were requesting sanders even more urgently.
One officer in Acton radioed dispatch that he couldn't even get to the scene of one accident on a downhill slope, and planned to just block the road and walk to the cars off the road below.
Posted by The Sun Newsroom at January 7, 2009 9:15 PM
