Winter weather brings slick roads, prompts closings

Traffic is backed up on Interstate 49 northbound Wednesday morning near the Fulbright Expressway exit in Fayetteville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Traffic is backed up on Interstate 49 northbound Wednesday morning near the Fulbright Expressway exit in Fayetteville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

Two people were killed in a two-vehicle crash on the Illinois River bridge on Arkansas 16 in Benton County on Tuesday night as hazardous road conditions settled over the area.

Local road and street departments dealt with slippery conditions Wednesday morning and began to craft game plans for conditions that were expected to refreeze roads overnight. Officials also prepared for severe cold temperatures.

April Fanning, 61, and Alan Fanning, 59, both of Siloam Springs, were killed, according to a preliminary report from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety.

The State Police listed the road conditions at the time of the crash as “rain/ice.”

[Schools and offices across Northwest Arkansas are closed Wednesday due to the winter weather.]

The 2005 Lincoln Town Car the Fannings were in was going east and lost control on the bridge, crossed the centerline and went into the path of a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado. The Silverado struck the Town Car in the passenger door area, according to the State Police crash report.

Jay Frasier with the Benton County Road Department said there were 12 trucks out laying down a mixture of salt and sand. That treatment will continue overnight, he said. The county has two crews working 12-hour shifts, he said.

County roads were “pretty rough” Wednesday morning, he said.

“It’s all about the same across the county,” he said. “There is that glaze across the roads. We are all over the county, and we will try to get to as many roads as we can.”

Washington County Road Department crews have worked since Tuesday night to spread a mixture of sand and gravel over county roads, according to Brian Lester, county attorney. That work is expected to continue through tonight.

Lester said county offices were closed Wednesday after an initial decision to delay opening until 10 a.m.

“The judge looked at conditions and decided that if we had people come in there was a chance of things getting worse during the day, and he made the decision to keep the offices closed,” Lester said.

Benton County offices also were closed Wednesday.

Lt. Bret Hagan with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said he couldn’t offer any estimate of the number of calls the Sheriff’s Office had received as of Wednesday morning. The Sheriff’s Office is keeping an updated list of road conditions related to the storm on its Facebook page.

Hagan said deputies had been sent to “multiple wrecks” and many calls that involved vehicles stuck on hills or having slid off the roadway and into ditches. He said the Sheriff’s Office had been called to assist the Arkansas State Police, and the Fayetteville and Tontitown police departments with accidents.

He recommended people stay at home as much as possible until this storm passes and roads are safer.

Tony Davis, street manager for the city of Bentonville, said crews have been out since Tuesday night treating streets with salt, salt brine and salt brine with magnesium chloride. That road treatment will continue overnight with crews working 12-hour shifts.

All parts of the city were impacted by slick conditions with the southeast and southwest parts hit the worst, Davis said.

Terry Gulley, transportation services director for Fayetteville, said the Street Department has five or six trucks working to spread a sand and grit mix and another five of six spreading salt brine on city streets.

“Most of the major streets are clear right now,” Gulley said around 11 a.m. “We have had a lot of accidents in the streets this morning.”

Gulley said road conditions will worsen when temperatures begin to fall at night if the rain and freezing drizzle continues through today.

“It only gets worse after dark,” Gulley said. “Right now, were looking at wind chills under zero until Tuesday. We will be busy.”

Frankie Guyll, street supervisor for the city of Rogers, encouraged people to stay at home if they do not need to get out. Guyll said Wednesday morning that crews had salted the main roads, but secondary roads were slick.

“We can’t get every slick spot in Rogers, but we are going to our best,” Guyll said.

Crews put out 100-150 tons of salt mixed with 50 tons of sand, he said.

Guyll said a crew worked Tuesday night, and the crew may return and work Wednesday night. He said there are five spreaders out today and they may also be used tonight.

Keith Foster, spokesman for the Rogers Police Department, described the roads as slick and said officers had handled three accidents Wednesday morning.

Cassi Lapp, spokeswoman for the city of Bella Vista, said city streets are very slick. Crews were out with salt and sand treating main roads first and then secondary roads, she said. Crews will work around the clock to treat the roads, she said.

The Public Works department of the city of Springdale started pretreating roads for icy conditions at 6 p.m. Tuesday, said James Smith, deputy director of the department. The pretreatment routes include the city’s major streets, overpasses and any steep streets, he said.

Overnight and during the day Wednesday crews treated “hot spots,” Smith said. Hot spots include anywhere there’s been a wreck and other places city police officers report as slick, he said.

Smith said the department plans to stay the course during the day Wednesday and over night.

“It’s slick everywhere. We’ve got four trucks out, and we have the capability of six,” he said.

Dave Parker, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said there were issues early Wednesday morning on Interstate 49 at the Arkansas 71 Interchange due to black ice.

Northbound traffic on the interstate came to a stop, Parker said. He said crews will be out tonight treating state roads.

Parker said crews hope to get more rock salt down Friday before more frigid temperatures arrive Saturday.

Benton and Washington counties are in winter weather advisory until 6 p.m. today, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa. There could be areas of freezing drizzle, a chance of freezing rain and untreated bridges and overpasses will be slick and hazardous.

The high today is expected to be in the mid to high 20s with a low of 17, according to the Weather Service. By Saturday, the highs will be in the lows 20s with an overnight low near 3 degrees, according to the Weather Service.

Bart Haake, a meteorologist with the weather service in Tulsa, said temperatures won’t break above freezing until possibly the middle of next week. Wind chills could hit minus 10 degrees at the coldest point Sunday morning, Haake said.

The Salvation Army has warming centers in Bentonville and Fayetteville usually open when the wind chill is 34 degrees or below. The warming centers are separate from the regular shelters at each site that have stayed open daily since November to provide adequate space for people because of the pandemic, Capt. Josh Robinett said. The organization has up to 71 beds available in Fayetteville and 96 beds in Bentonville, he said.

7 Hills Homeless Center in Fayetteville will have its day center operation at St. James Missionary Baptist Church on Willow Avenue open 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day this week, including Saturday and Sunday, Chief Executive Officer Jessica Andrews said. The center normally is open during weekdays, but the organization will absorb the cost of staff overtime because of the extreme cold, she said.

Organizations across Northwest Arkansas are prepared to help keep residents experiencing homelessness warm and safe as blistering cold wallops the area this week.

[Learn more here].

Visit idrivearkansas.com for real-time updates of traffic impacts and road conditions. See school and business closings at nwaonline.com/closings.

Courtesy photo -- The National Weather Service
Courtesy photo -- The National Weather Service

This story was originally published at 10:06 a.m.

Upcoming Events