Ice-Covered Roads, Walks Remain Treacherous
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Tackling a treacherous driveway takes a little bit of muscle, just ask Christine Pierce. She's heaving 50-pound bags of ice melt into the rear hatch of her SUV to haul home and begin the battle.
Pierce has a lot of company as ice-melting chemicals are selling out fast at area hardware stores.
"We had a big melt over the weekend and literally you cannot step out without slipping – I totally needed the grit and deicer," Pierce said.
At a St. Paul salt distribution station, contractors' plow trucks stretched around the block. They were patiently waiting in line to load their trucks with tons of salt and sand, hopeful of making conditions safer for people like Andrew Monke.
"I actually thought about taking the bus back, thinking that might be a little safer," said Monke, who was navigating icy sidewalks near the St. Paul Cathedral.
Instead, Monke is taking his chances in well-worn tennis shoes. Without cleats on his feet, his tactic is to avoid sidewalks at all cost.
"You pretty much have to just walk along the side of the snowpack of the path, otherwise you're going to bite it," Monke said.
That's just what a semi loaded with salt did in Burnsville. The heavy truck hit an icy patch and jackknifed on 35W and Cliff Road, blocking most lanes of traffic.
State Troopers responded to hundreds of spinouts and crashes across the state as motorists slipped and slid into ditches, medians and each other.
Even the heavy salt trucks navigated city streets with extreme caution.
For St. Paul public works employee Dan Reimer, he normally works in the bridge division but is being pressed into sidewalk duty. Reimer said one dose of deicer didn't do the trick so he was back to spread a little more.
"It's terrible, it's terrible. I've never seen anything like it and I've lived here my whole life. It's hard to keep up with," Reimer said.