IDOT: We were surprised by freezing rain

A mixture of freezing rain and unprepared highway crews created chaos on roadways Monday night and caused a plane to slide off the runway at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling.

“It was a very hectic hour, hour and a half, when this thing hit,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell said. “With freezing rain, a lot of the time we are in a react mode.”

A spokeswoman with the Illinois State Police blamed IDOT and said salt trucks were just reaching roadways about 10:30 p.m., but the conditions had already deteriorated about 8 p.m.

“It's like IDOT got hit by surprise,” she said. “It's like nobody knew what was coming.”

Tridgell said IDOT was surprised by the freezing rain and was originally anticipating snowy conditions. The department put out a call for a full complement of trucks and equipment just before 9 p.m. to the North, Northwest and Western suburbs first, he said.

“This was very fast developing,” Tridgell said. “Unfortunately, there were significant reports of freezing rain, and that's very challenging to deal with.”

A state police spokesman said their phones had been ringing off the hook throughout the night with as many as 40 people on hold at one time reporting accidents.

“Right now, 53 north and southbound is a sheet of ice,” said Palatine Fire Department Lt. Robert Kluzek at 9 p.m. “We just had back to back to back to back accidents.”

He said there had been at least nine crashes on Route 53 as of 9 p.m., and the roadway was closed in both directions north of I-90.

There were also multiple pileups on the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway that emergency crews had difficulty reaching because of the icy conditions and number of vehicles involved. Multiple people were taken to area hospitals, and there were numerous reports of rolled-over cars.

At the Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, a plane slid off the runway after landing Monday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Beech aircraft with only the pilot on board slid off the runway about 8:30 p.m., FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said. There were no injuries reported. The FAA is investigating, but no further information was available Monday.

A serious personal injury accident was reported on I-88 in the westbound lanes near I-290, according to police.

The state police activated its emergency weather plan and was only responding to crashes involving injury or a disabled vehicle. Drivers who crashed were advised to exchange information with each other and report the crash to police at a later time.

The hazardous conditions Monday evening followed numerous crashes reported in the morning in Lake County — including in Gurnee, Lake Villa, Antioch and Lake Zurich — as motorists encountered black ice. Bridges and ramps were especially slick, and motorists were encouraged to stay home. Route 12 in Spring Grove was shut down for a time early Monday morning after a semi truck jackknifed.

Freezing: Plane slid off runway at Executive Airport