Snow and ice causes long waits on highways and accidents in Columbus, Phenix City
Road conditions across the Chattahoochee Valley region remained hazardous Wednesday morning after a winter storm, causing long waits on Russell County highways and many car accidents in Columbus and Phenix City.
The roads in Columbus and Phenix City were still covered in ice Wednesday morning, officials told the Ledger-Enquirer.
All county, state and federal highways in Lee and Russell counties were impassable, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
The region got about 3 inches of snow with measurements from north Columbus, midtown and Russell County, Director of Columbus Homeland Security and Emergency Management Chance Corbett told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Continued hazardous conditions
There was snow on top of the roads, Corbett said, but there’s a layer of ice underneath the snow.
Corbett and David Martin, director of the Russell County Emergency Management Agency, urge local residents to stay off of the roads. This echoes a statement Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman posted on Facebook, asking people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary.
“We’ve got people that are trying to get out here and trying to go up hills with an incline,” Corbett said. “They’re spinning. Especially, the two-wheel drive vehicles are spinning.”
The problem, even with four-wheel drive vehicles, is that the sheet of ice on the road makes it difficult to stop in time, Corbett said.
“They get on the roads and figure out that you can’t brake the same way,” Martin said. “You can’t go as fast as you normally go.”
After people go over the hill, they may see someone stopped on the other side and panic trying to brake, Martin said. This causes cars to start skidding, he said, and they end up in a ditch or hitting another vehicle.
Neither Corbett nor a spokesperson for the Columbus Police Department could say how many accidents have occurred during the winter weather. However, they’ve acknowledged that the number was high and that police are still responding to calls.
“There’s been a lot of minor accidents because people have not been able to stop or are sliding,” Corbett said.
It was a similar situation in East Alabama, which also had a high number of accidents.
Some vehicles slid off the road on U.S. Highway 280 between Opelika and Phenix City, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Starting around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, commuters in Russell County faced long wait times on backed-up highways as tractor-trailer trucks began getting stuck on Highway 169 and Highway 80, Martin said.
He knows at least one person who got stuck in traffic on Highway 169 trying to get home to Smiths Station from Opelika.
“Tractor-trailer trucks were the main issue,” Martin said. “They would lose control and block not just one, but both lanes of traffic.”
Treating the roads
Phenix City Public Works and Engineering departments are still working to treat the roads, Martin said.
Areas that were treated prior to the winter storm, like bridges and overpasses, need to be retreated because there are two or three inches of snow and ice sitting on top of the sand.
Public Works crews in Columbus are also out trying to treat hot spots that are almost impassable, Corbett said.
This includes any areas with inclines, like Benning Hills and Green Island Hills.
Corbett witnessed one woman on Bradley Park not make it trying to go up a hill, and she ended up reversing back down it.
The Georgia Department of Transportation was working to treat the 13th Street Bridge, Corbett said, while the Alabama Department of Transportation was working on JR Allen Parkway.
The Alabama National Guard also was helping to treat the roads, Jones said.
There have been social media reports in Alabama saying that normal 30-minute trips were taking around three to four hours.
Officials urge residents to stay indoors. If essential workers in Phenix City, like those in the medical field, need assistance getting to work, they may contact the Russell County Sheriff’s Office for help, Martin said.
Phenix City residents can visit the Russell County Emergency Management Agency’s website for further updates, and Georgia residents can check GDOT’s website for current road conditions.
