Icy roads create nightmare on every Edmonton street

It was the road to nowhere on Yellowhead Drive during rush hour on Nov. 14, 2011, when Edmonton was hit with its first substantial snowfall of the season.

EDMONTON — One hour to drive five blocks.

That was the pace of Fay L’hirondelle’s commute Monday evening. And she wasn’t alone.

The first snowfall of the season turned roads to ice and snarled traffic all over the capital region, with collisions and delays reported across the city and on highways. An elderly woman died in a Strathcona County crash.

Between 3 p.m. and 4:20 p.m., city police responded to five reports of injury accidents and 19 property damage collisions, said spokeswoman Patrycia Thenu.

“It is the first snowstorm of the season,” she said. “People are still getting used to the new road conditions, so that might drive the number up a little bit today. It’s important to remember to drive for the conditions, not the speed limit.”

By the time rush-hour was truly underway, minor accidents and stalls had caused gridlock across the city.

Buses were stuck in traffic along with everyone else, and that caused transit delays, said ETS spokeswoman Patricia Dickson.

“Took my wife over 90 minutes to get home via #yegtransit instead of the normal 25,” Brent Welch wrote on Twitter. “She’s just glad to be home.”

Drivers trying to get in or out of the south side of downtown had to contend with very slippery hills. A collision involving a bus and two cars on Bellamy Hill backed up traffic for hours. Police eventually closed the hill on 103rd Street in both directions from 100th Avenue to 97th Avenue.

City crews were out sanding and salting roads, paying particular attention to bus routes, said city spokeswoman Laura McNabb.

There were no plans to send out plows until three to five centimetres of snow had accumulated, she said. Environment Canada’s forecast called for only two centimetres overnight Monday.

Outside of the city, RCMP warned drivers to slow down.

Strathcona County RMCP said snow-packed and icy roads likely contributed to an accident on Highway 629 near Range Road 222 that killed 87-year-old Norma Harcus. Her 91-year-old husband was driving when he lost control, drove into a ditch and hit a culvert just before 8:30 p.m. He was taken by air ambulance to hospital in Edmonton with life-threatening injuries.

Black ice was blamed for two accidents in Fort Saskatchewan. A single-vehicle rollover on Highway 16 near Elk Island National Park sent two people to hospital.

The Jaws of Life were needed to get another driver out of her car after a crash on Highway 15. She and her two children were also taken to hospital.

A stretch of the highway was closed for two hours, delaying motorists and Fort Saskatchewan commuters.

Most drivers heading home from work Monday found their patience tested as they stared at seemingly endless lines of tail lights. By 5:45 p.m., an hour into her drive home from Canada Place, L’hirondelle had made it five blocks.

Maddeningly, she doesn’t usually drive to work.

“If I had walked I would have been home an hour ago,” she said, while waiting on Macdonald Drive near 102nd Street.