Drivers snowed-in all night as I-95 shuts down in Virginia

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This representation provided by the Virginia section of Transportation shows a closed conception of Interstate 95 adjacent Fredericksburg, Va. Monday Jan. 3, 2022. Both northbound and southbound sections of the road were closed owed to snowfall and ice. (Virginia Department of Transportation via AP)

RUTHER GLEN, Va. – Hundreds of motorists were stranded each nighttime successful snowfall and freezing temperatures on a 50-mile agelong of Interstate 95 aft a clang involving six tractor-trailers successful Virginia, wherever authorities were struggling Tuesday to scope them.

Both directions of postulation connected I-95 came to a standstill Monday betwixt Ruther Glen, Virginia, successful Caroline County and exit 152 successful Dumfries, Prince William County, the Virginia Department of Transportation said. “Crews volition commencement taking radical disconnected astatine immoderate disposable interchange to get them,” the bureau tweeted astatine 5:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Gov. Ralph Northam tweeted that his squad responded done the nighttime alongside authorities police, proscription and exigency absorption officials. “An exigency connection is going to each stranded drivers connecting them to support, and the authorities is moving with localities to unfastened warming shelters arsenic needed. While sunlight is expected to assistance @VaDOT wide the road, each Virginians should proceed to debar 1-95,” helium added.

Crews were moving to region stopped trucks, plow snow, de-ice the roadway and usher stranded motorists to the nearest exits on the U.S. East Coast’s main north-south highway, the proscription bureau said.

“We cognize galore travelers person been stuck connected Interstate 95 successful our portion for bonzer periods of clip implicit the past 24 hours, successful immoderate cases since Monday morning. This is unprecedented, and we proceed to steadily determination stopped trucks to marque advancement toward restoring lanes. In summation to clearing the trucks, we are treating for snowfall and respective inches of crystal that has accumulatd astir them to guarantee that erstwhile the lanes reopen, motorists tin safely proceed to their destination,” said Marcie Parker, the agency’s Fredericksburg District engineer.

The tractor-trailer collision Monday day caused nary injuries, but brought postulation to a standstill, and it became intolerable to determination arsenic the snowfall accumulated. Hours passed with hundreds of motorists posting progressively hopeless messages connected societal media astir moving retired of fuel, nutrient and water.

Between 7 to 11 inches of snowfall accumulated successful the country during Monday’s blizzard, according to the National Weather Service, and thousands of accidents and stranded vehicles were reported passim cardinal and bluish Virginia. As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, Virginia State Police had responded to much than 2,000 calls for work owed to treacherous roadworthy conditions, The Free Lance-Star successful Fredericksburg reported.

Compounding the challenges, postulation cameras went offline arsenic overmuch of cardinal Virginia mislaid powerfulness successful the storm, VDOT said. More than 281,000 customers remained without energy connected Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us.

“I’ve ne'er seen thing similar it,” Emily Clementson, a motortruck driver, told NBC Washington. She urged stuck motorists to inquire motortruck drivers if they person nutrient oregon h2o to share, since galore transportation other supplies successful lawsuit they get stranded.

The bureau tweeted to the stranded drivers connected Monday that reinforcements were arriving from different states to assistance get them moving again.

“We privation we had a timetable, ETA oregon an educated conjecture connected erstwhile question volition resume connected I-95. It’s astatine a standstill successful our country with aggregate incidents,” the tweet read. “Its frustrating & scary. Please cognize our crews don’t stop. Crews volition enactment 24/7 until ALL state-maintained roads are harmless for travel.”

State constabulary had warned radical to debar driving unless perfectly necessary, particularly arsenic evening and freezing temperatures acceptable in.

“Due to the dense snowfall concentrated successful that area, roadworthy conditions rapidly turned treacherous for commercialized and rider vehicles,” authorities constabulary reported successful a property release. “VSP troopers, wreckers, and VDOT crews proceed to enactment arsenic rapidly arsenic the upwind and roads volition safely licence to get stuck vehicles cleared and postulation moving again connected I-95.”

The stranded motorists included NBC News analogous Josh Lederman, who spoke connected NBC’s “Today” amusement connected Tuesday via video provender from his car, with a canine successful the backmost seat. He said he'd been stuck astir 30 miles (48 kilometers) southbound of Washington, D.C., since 8 p.m. Monday.

“I don’t person immoderate nutrient oregon water. I person gas, but however agelong is that going to last?” Lederman said.

All night, it turned out. At astir daybreak, VDOT announced that it was opening to effort to scope the stranded motorists.

“I deliberation the connection is dystopian,” Lederman said. "We started to spot a batch of drivers turning their cars disconnected to conserve gas, radical moving retired of nutrient and water, kids and pets holed up for truthful galore hours, radical letting their pets retired of the car to effort to locomotion them connected the street. And successful the meantime, nary signs of immoderate exigency vehicles that we could see. Now, you don’t cognize if that’s due to the fact that they can’t get to wherever you are, but you truly commencement to deliberation if determination was a aesculapian emergency, idiosyncratic that was retired of state and retired of vigor — you cognize it’s 26 degrees and there’s nary mode that anybody tin get to you successful this situation.”

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