City and county road crews continued clearing and treating roadways Tuesday as warmer temperatures loosened the icy grip Monday's winter storm imposed on the area.
Treacherous conditions on Interstate 30 snarled eastbound traffic from Saline County to the Malvern exits Monday night, Arkansas State Police Capt. Forrest Marks said. Accidents in Saline County at mile markers 121, 116 and 111 near the Highway 70 east exit backed up motorists to mile marker 98 in Hot Spring County, Marks said, noting that road conditions were consistent for the seven-county area Troop K patrols.
"There are patches of black ice, and we're cautioning folks to drive at a reasonable speed," he said Tuesday. "The issue we deal with on the interstate is a high volume of traffic and a lot of commercial vehicle traffic."
Marks said two teams of Arkansas National Guard personnel helped respond to the I-30 congestion, using a Humvee to take troopers from Troop K headquarters off Carpenter Dam Road to distressed motorists.
Icy spots spanned Malvern Avenue from Westinghouse bridge to Carpenter Dam Road Tuesday. Denny McPhate, public works director for Hot Springs, said an Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department crew was called to clear the icy stretch. Marks said similar spots dappled Highway 70 east from Hot Springs to I-30 early Tuesday, making travel difficult.
City crews salted and sanded roads Sunday night and cleared icy spots Tuesday on the north side of town to allow sanitation trucks to safely service their routes, McPhate said. The crew on duty from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday was back at it Tuesday morning, going until 4:30 p.m. to cap more than 40-consecutive hours worked by city crews.
Road conditions upset the schedule for haulers Garland County contracts with for house-to-house garbage collection, County Judge Rick Davis said Tuesday. He said solid waste cans should be left at the road, and haulers will empty them as weather permits.
County Road Commissioner Tony Breshears said he received few calls for downed-tree removal but fielded numerous requests to clear ice-laden cane sticks that lolled over roadways, explaining that the landscaping feature's insubstantial structure was no match for Monday's winter blast.
"It breaks over like a baby pine," he said, identifying the worst spots in areas near Owl Creek Road in Royal and Knife Factory Road and Meadowlark Trail in south Garland County. "That stuff's about 30 feet tall. When it gets iced over, it's weighted down and goes all the way across the road."
Breshears said crews spent Tuesday sanding the Fox Pass Cutoff north of town and Mill Creek Road near the Promise Land Drive intersection in eastern Garland County. A six-wheeled, 2 and a half ton county truck plied Amity Road, sanding and blading the pavement, Breshears said.
McPhate said city crews addressed "hot spots" Tuesday, including icy patches on steep parts of Golf Links Road shaded from the sun and problem areas that made it difficult for motorists to stop in turn lanes on Third Street and West Grand Avenue. He said most city roads connecting neighborhoods to federal and state roadways were clear by mid morning on Tuesday.
"The major collectors are all in really good shape," he said, adding that the highway department focused on the King Expressway and outlying areas.
Local on 02/18/2015