Route 53 reopened; Pace suspending bus service

It may be days before any sense of normalcy returns for area commuters and travelers.

Work crews are still clearing many roads throughout the Chicago suburbs. Meanwhile, high winds and subzero temperatures have created a new problem for travelers as cleared streets are expected to turn icy.

Throughout most of Wednesday, travel was restricted in much of the suburbs as crews not only dealt with snow-covered streets, but scores of stranded motorists and abandoned cars. States of emergency were declared in some counties.

The Illinois Department of Transportation closed a section of Route 53 between Interstate 90 and Lake-Cook Road for much of Wednesday. They reopened two lanes by midafternoon, but state police urged motorists to stay off the section as crews worked to clear abandoned vehicles and rescue stranded motorists. Other expressways were also impassable because of snow drifts that state police officials said would likely continue into today. The impassable roadways around the suburbs required Pace to suspend service Wednesday at 6 p.m. Officials at the agency said they hoped to be up and running again early today.

Transportation experts warned that getting stranded on the roads today could be even more perilous because of the extreme cold.

Airlines plan to resume operations at both O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport today as well. More than 2,500 flights were canceled at both airports Wednesday, while a small number of passenger flights arrived and departed out of the airports, city aviation department officials said. United officials said they planned to run “limited” operations today, while American Airlines officials expected to begin a full slate of service “first thing” today.

Chicago Aviation Department officials urged travelers to check with their airlines about flight status before arriving at the airport.

Metra was also stymied by the blizzard. The agency plans to run a normal weekday schedule todayfor nine of its 13 lines. A modified weekday schedule for the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe line and the three Union Pacific lines will be followed. That means “slightly less” trains for those four lines, Metra officials said. Riders should check metrarail.com for the changes being made to the service schedules.

On Wednesday, Metra shut down a number of lines and ran on a scaled-back Sunday service. An eastbound Metra train struck a car just west of the Elmhurst train station early Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported and the train returned to service about an hour later, officials said.

All major roads in Cook and DuPage counties were expected to remain open to all traffic, as were area toll roads.

State police officials said that by midday Wednesday troopers had responded to 1,100 calls for service throughout the region. Just on the tollway system, troopers responded to 74 crashes, 438 calls for motorist assistance, 29 requests for help with fuel or flat tires and 118 vehicles were towed.

Transportation officials say anyone who had to abandon their vehicles during the blizzard should check with the municipality where the vehicle was left to find out where the vehicle was towed.

Illinois National Guard troops were also deployed during the blizzard to assist with stranded motorists. Gov. Pat Quinn’s office said guardsmen assisted at least 50 motorists during the height of the storm, but they suspected the number was much higher because they were reporting calls to certain areas throughout the state, not specific calls from vehicles.