Several drivers and a county sheriff reported massive delays on a stretch of Interstate Highway 80 near Grinnell on Thursday, but the Iowa Department of Transportation had no record of a traffic jam that reportedly stranded drivers for six hours or more.
As motorists sat in their vehicles wondering what was causing the backup that lasted until after midnight, the DOT’s road closure map and alert system, commonly referred to as 511, showed I-80 to be clear from 7 p.m. onward.
A series of semitrailer trucks jackknifing in close succession caused delays that, at their worst, reportedly had drivers creeping along the highway at one mile per hour for up to seven hours. Drivers phoned The Des Moines Register late Thursday with reports of the standstill.
But the DOT could not confirm the delay.
“We were not able to find any support for that that our people saw,” said Bob Youni, state maintenance engineer with the DOT.
Monica Vernon, a Cedar Rapids City Council member who found herself stuck on I-80 Thursday evening, called the Register from the road to report what happened and to seek information.
“I started wondering: ‘Since it’s not being reported that we’re out here, maybe they just don’t know,’ ” she said from her car.
Vernon was on her way to Des Moines to pick up her two daughters who were flying home for Christmas. She said she knew she shouldn’t have been driving — transportation officials had advised against travel on all major highways Wednesday and Thursday — but she wanted to get her kids home.
At 6:19 p.m., she came to a stop near Grinnell. Traffic would move soon enough, she figured.
Hours passed and the line of vehicles stopped behind Vernon grew out of sight. She called the Poweshiek County sheriff and tried to find information about the roadblock online. Her daughters took to Twitter, asking anyone for information on the traffic jam.
Vernon began to worry: What if drivers run out of gas and further clog the road? What if they have to spend the night on the interstate?
Without explanation, traffic began moving again at about 12:15 a.m., Vernon said.
Youni said electronic tracking of DOT vehicles showed them moving 15 to 20 miles per hour down that stretch of interstate while vehicles were reportedly at a standstill. The DOT also put together Highway Assistance Teams, made up of a National Guard vehicle, Iowa State Patrol car, DOT snowplow and DOT traffic enforcement officer. They sent one team west down I-80 from Coralville and one east from Newton, and they didn’t see anything, he said.
“I’m not saying it didn’t happen,” said Youni, “just that I can’t explain it.”
Chief Deputy Lawrence McNaul of the Poweshiek County sheriff’s office, was in the area starting at 6 a.m. Thursday, when the first truck turned sideways. “Dozens” more followed suit, he said, and another truck caught fire from overheating around 10:30 p.m. McNaul didn’t leave the scene until 11:30 p.m.
The first incident, McNaul said, was at mile marker 185 eastbound, where a jackknifed truck shut down traffic for more than an hour. Just as a wrecker was straightening out the truck, two more jackknifed across the highway on I-80 westbound.
“And it was just a chain reaction there,” said McNaul. “We would get one group cleared up and somebody else in the pack would get sideways and get traffic blocked up.”
McNaul said trucks were turning between mile markers 185 and 198, “a historically bad stretch” between Brooklyn and Grinnell made worse by a cable barrier intended to prevent accidents from crossing the roadway.
“We used to tell people ‘we can’t tow you off the road, we’ll park you in the middle until tomorrow when it clears up,’ ” he said. “We don’t have that option anymore. Everyone has to get towed.”
Road congestion also had something to do with the delays, McNaul said. “If people just acknowledged the advisories and not travel, it would have saved us a lot of time.” He said DOT workers were on site, salting, sanding and plowing. “They were right there every time we needed them.”
The sheriff’s office fielded several calls throughout the day from stranded motorists asking for food, water and other supplies, McNaul said, “but I wasn’t willing to jeopardize the safety and the security of more public safety out there with the road conditions as they were, just putting more people out there at risk.”
Jacob Fraser, an ice hockey referee from Chicago headed to Nebraska to work a few games, was stranded somewhere in the line of cars on I-80. When he called the Register on Thursday evening, traffic had yet to budge.
“It’s just semitrucks and cars as far as the eye can see,” he said around 11 p.m. “Hopefully we’ll get moving soon.”
Travis Solem, Poweshiek County dispatch supervisor, said the last of the blockages were fully cleared by 1 a.m. Friday.
The DOT met Friday morning to discuss the discrepancy in drivers’ experiences versus the department’s information, Youni said.
“A lot of people work really hard to make 511 as accurate as can be,” he said. “We already agreed amongst ourselves we need to look at this.”
The agency is looking into finding a way to get public input into the 511 system so people can report traffic jams. There currently is no such system or hotline.
Youni said DOT information concurs with reports of trucks “having a hard time moving around,” and slowing down traffic, but “I am a little dubious over someone sitting out there for six hours not moving.
“I’m not sure we’re ever going to know exactly what the situation was.”
As motorists sat in their vehicles wondering what was causing the backup that lasted until after midnight, the DOT’s road closure map and alert system, commonly referred to as 511, showed I-80 to be clear from 7 p.m. onward.
A series of semitrailer trucks jackknifing in close succession caused delays that, at their worst, reportedly had drivers creeping along the highway at one mile per hour for up to seven hours. Drivers phoned The Des Moines Register late Thursday with reports of the standstill.
But the DOT could not confirm the delay.
“We were not able to find any support for that that our people saw,” said Bob Youni, state maintenance engineer with the DOT.
Monica Vernon, a Cedar Rapids City Council member who found herself stuck on I-80 Thursday evening, called the Register from the road to report what happened and to seek information.
“I started wondering: ‘Since it’s not being reported that we’re out here, maybe they just don’t know,’ ” she said from her car.
Vernon was on her way to Des Moines to pick up her two daughters who were flying home for Christmas. She said she knew she shouldn’t have been driving — transportation officials had advised against travel on all major highways Wednesday and Thursday — but she wanted to get her kids home.
At 6:19 p.m., she came to a stop near Grinnell. Traffic would move soon enough, she figured.
Hours passed and the line of vehicles stopped behind Vernon grew out of sight. She called the Poweshiek County sheriff and tried to find information about the roadblock online. Her daughters took to Twitter, asking anyone for information on the traffic jam.
Vernon began to worry: What if drivers run out of gas and further clog the road? What if they have to spend the night on the interstate?
Without explanation, traffic began moving again at about 12:15 a.m., Vernon said.
Youni said electronic tracking of DOT vehicles showed them moving 15 to 20 miles per hour down that stretch of interstate while vehicles were reportedly at a standstill. The DOT also put together Highway Assistance Teams, made up of a National Guard vehicle, Iowa State Patrol car, DOT snowplow and DOT traffic enforcement officer. They sent one team west down I-80 from Coralville and one east from Newton, and they didn’t see anything, he said.
“I’m not saying it didn’t happen,” said Youni, “just that I can’t explain it.”
Chief Deputy Lawrence McNaul of the Poweshiek County sheriff’s office, was in the area starting at 6 a.m. Thursday, when the first truck turned sideways. “Dozens” more followed suit, he said, and another truck caught fire from overheating around 10:30 p.m. McNaul didn’t leave the scene until 11:30 p.m.
The first incident, McNaul said, was at mile marker 185 eastbound, where a jackknifed truck shut down traffic for more than an hour. Just as a wrecker was straightening out the truck, two more jackknifed across the highway on I-80 westbound.
“And it was just a chain reaction there,” said McNaul. “We would get one group cleared up and somebody else in the pack would get sideways and get traffic blocked up.”
McNaul said trucks were turning between mile markers 185 and 198, “a historically bad stretch” between Brooklyn and Grinnell made worse by a cable barrier intended to prevent accidents from crossing the roadway.
“We used to tell people ‘we can’t tow you off the road, we’ll park you in the middle until tomorrow when it clears up,’ ” he said. “We don’t have that option anymore. Everyone has to get towed.”
Road congestion also had something to do with the delays, McNaul said. “If people just acknowledged the advisories and not travel, it would have saved us a lot of time.” He said DOT workers were on site, salting, sanding and plowing. “They were right there every time we needed them.”
The sheriff’s office fielded several calls throughout the day from stranded motorists asking for food, water and other supplies, McNaul said, “but I wasn’t willing to jeopardize the safety and the security of more public safety out there with the road conditions as they were, just putting more people out there at risk.”
Jacob Fraser, an ice hockey referee from Chicago headed to Nebraska to work a few games, was stranded somewhere in the line of cars on I-80. When he called the Register on Thursday evening, traffic had yet to budge.
“It’s just semitrucks and cars as far as the eye can see,” he said around 11 p.m. “Hopefully we’ll get moving soon.”
Travis Solem, Poweshiek County dispatch supervisor, said the last of the blockages were fully cleared by 1 a.m. Friday.
The DOT met Friday morning to discuss the discrepancy in drivers’ experiences versus the department’s information, Youni said.
“A lot of people work really hard to make 511 as accurate as can be,” he said. “We already agreed amongst ourselves we need to look at this.”
The agency is looking into finding a way to get public input into the 511 system so people can report traffic jams. There currently is no such system or hotline.
Youni said DOT information concurs with reports of trucks “having a hard time moving around,” and slowing down traffic, but “I am a little dubious over someone sitting out there for six hours not moving.
“I’m not sure we’re ever going to know exactly what the situation was.”
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