By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Blizzard conditions forced the closing of Interstate 29 in northwest Missouri from early Sunday morning until Monday morning.
Sergeant Shane Hux, spokesman for Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop H in northwest Missouri, says as the winter weather wore on, the patrol decided to close I-29 from north of St. Joseph to Rock Port.
“The roadway conditions were treacherous. I mean, it was not safe for travel. So that’s why we strived to get the word out there,” Hux tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “We were inundated with calls for service. We had stranded motorists. Matter of fact, the First Christian Church here in Mound City had to open an emergency shelter just for a place for troopers to transport people to for safety.”
The patrol closed I-29, both northbound and southbound lanes, from mile marker 56 north of St. Joseph in Andrew County to mile market 110 near Rock Port in Atchison County at 5:30 Sunday evening due to deteriorating driving conditions. It reopened early Monday morning.
Hux, who has been with the patrol for nearly 25 years, says the conditions were as bad as he can ever remember.
“And we had hills, like for example, on Interstate 29 southbound at the 79 mile marker, they call that Squaw Creek Hill. Semis could not get up that hill due to the slick conditions,” according to Hux. “Traffic was backed up there approximately 6 ½ hours until we could get them through and (it) wreaked havoc getting MoDOT trucks up in there so they could treat that hill to give those vehicles traction to get up there.”
If you have to get out today, Hux advises you to give yourself more time than usual, slow down, and leave plenty of distance between vehicles.
The Missouri Department of Transportation reports much of I-29 remains snow covered, though the sunshine today is helping clear the pavement of snow. MoDOT asks motorists to limit travel on the instate while crews work to remove vehicles that became stranded during the blizzard.
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