Treacherous Commute For Some, Snow Day For Others
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - It wasn't so much the amount of snow covering metro roadways Friday morning - but the timing of it. The storm that moved across Minnesota overnight spared the metro from the heaviest amounts.
MnDOT crews were out all night laying down the chemicals that would pay off by late morning.
Tammy Lloyd traveled up from Northfield Friday to pick up a new puppy. When she saw Interstate 35 at a crawl, she drove the back roads.
"There's a lot of traffic but we were driving about 50 miles an hour, so the roads were good," Lloyd said.
Spinouts and crashes were the order of the morning, including one fatality. Twenty-four-year-old Taya Clifford was killed on Highway 13 in Eagan when her car lost control and was broadsided by an oncoming vehicle.
The state patrol reported more than 200 accidents across the metro, resulting in dozens of injuries.
Sue Campbell says commuting into work on a snowy morning is tempting fate.
"Woke up this morning, looked out the window [puts hand to forehead]. Please no, I don't want to do this again," Campbell said.
But with just phone meetings to make, Sue's boss told her to work from home.
"Work provided the laptop. I have an iPad and iPhone and between all that…I'm good to go," she said.
Scott Dodge took a glance outside at his snow covered cars and did the same.
"President actually emailed everyone at about 7 this morning and said, "Hey, you know, think about it, do yourself a favor, work from home if you want,'" Dodge said. "I'm going to stay here and avoid, you know, an hour to downtown St. Paul."
Dodge's commute consisted of a trip across the kitchen floor, past the coffee pot and into the office.
"It's great having the flexibility to, you know, work from where I need to," he said.
When cats and dogs are the co-workers, productivity seems to soar.
"I got so much done before 9 o'clock this morning, I can take a nice, long coffee break," said Campbell.
