Motorists stranded for hours in Portland, Oregon, as snow and ice create traffic gridlock
Snowy conditions around Portland, Oregon, led to traffic gridlocks around the entire city during the Wednesday evening commute.
Snow began falling early Wednesday afternoon with enough to accumulate on roadways ahead of the evening commute.
The deteriorating road conditions led to extensive travel delays all around the city, including on I-5, I-84, I-205 and Highway 26, some of the major roadways around Portland.
(Photo/Oregon DOT)
Cars were abandoned in the middle of the road amid traffic backups, leading to more problems for motorists.
Some motorists, such as Christian Anicete, took to social media to relive their frustration while at a standstill.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Please don't drive if not necessary. Here is a pic showing all active OSP incidents in OR. Also hardest hit with the weather. <a href="https://t.co/jx8ZefDaZT">pic.twitter.com/jx8ZefDaZT</a></p>— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/ORStatePolice/status/809252443213168640">December 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
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"No cars are moving," Anicete told AccuWeather after being stuck in traffic for over three hours.
"The roads are getting icy and slick. Fellow drivers so far seem to be patient and calm."
While snow stopped travel around Portland, freezing rain led to similar issues farther south around Eugene, Oregon.
The freezing rain coated trees and power lines leaving over 6,000 without power, according to EWEB and Lane Electric. Over 75 percent of some neighborhoods in Eugene were without power.
Travel delays were not only limited to the I-5 corridor on Wednesday afternoon.
Over a foot of snow fell over the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, resulting in multiple avalanches.
Three avalanches occurred on Highway 20, shutting down the highway for several hours, the Oregon State Police reported.
No injuries were reported during either of the avalanches and the snow was removed by Oregon DOT withing hours of the avalanches.
(Photo/Oregon State Police)
Weather conditions are forecast to improve across the region on Thursday as the system responsible for the winter weather moves off to the east.
This will allow crews to remove snow and abandoned cars from the roads. However, travel delays from the snow and freezing rain on Wednesday afternoon may carry over into the Thursday morning commute.
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