Drivers Hit Holiday Traffic Jam Leaving The Sierra Monday
SODA SPRINGS (CBS13) - Hundreds of drivers spent hours on the road crawling on I-80 on their way back from a holiday weekend in the Sierra.
"I'm not ready to go back!" said 11-year-old Kelsey Murray, who had to get back to San Carlos for school on Tuesday morning.
Just off Nyack Road, the sweet sound of laughter was in the air as children of all ages took their final sled rides in the Sierra. But it wasn't so sweet over on I-80.
"Very slow," said Nicole Murray. "We were in park for a while. We left Tahoe City at noon and we just got [to Nyack] now so it's been a long trek."
Murray and her daughter Kelsey drove for five hours just to get 43 miles down the road. And she wasn't alone. It took Jennifer Panem and her family four hours to get from Reno to Nyack Road.
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"Uh, we were going like five miles an hour," she told CBS13.
The eastbound drive at 5 p.m. was nothing but smooth sailing. But drivers headed westbound toward Sacramento had a much slower experience. Highways 89 and 267 were also backed up with holiday travelers.
Earlier Monday afternoon, part of I-80 was shut down after a semi-truck had lost its marble. Thousands of pounds of it was scattered on the freeway in Roseville.
Meanwhile, in Soda Springs, CBS13 found ski instructor Sage Perez trying to dig her truck out of the snow after it sat in the parking lot for two days.
"My roommate is inside sleeping," she said, with a huge shovel in her hand. "Yeah, no it's a lot. This weighs down too in the back. So I want to get it out."
The gas station in Soda Springs was crowded with cars gassing up for the long journey home. Even the line for the restroom stretched back to the pumps.
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"The worst part right now is there's no damn heater in this truck!" said Demoriea Barker, who was driving from Reno to Sacramento.
After driving three hours to get just 40 miles closer to home, Barker told CBS13 it was going to take a little faith and a lot of patience to carry on.
"How are you going to get through it?" asked CBS13's Macy Jenkins.
"Prayers!" Barker replied.
The good news for drivers west of Kingvale was the snow has been cleared from I-80 so at least drivers could avoid the slushy roads that weekend weather brought to the region.