Snow socks the suburbs again
January's second major snowstorm had a powerful impact on both road and air traffic Friday.
More than 700 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport and 100 at Midway Airport, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Even among uncanceled flights, the average delay time of flights into and out of O'Hare was one hour.
At Midway, Southwest Airlines canceled all 70 of its flights scheduled between 2 and 5 p.m. but resumed its normal operations at 7 p.m. However, lengthy delays were still expected, the department said Friday night.
Though the storm's impact on the roads was long anticipated, no amount of preparation was likely to help solve the painful combination of heavy snowfall and the Friday afternoon commute, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell said. IDOT had 365 plows and trucks on the job in Cook and the collar counties.
“Unfortunately, Friday afternoons see just about our heaviest levels of traffic,” Tridgell said. “While we are out there, we can only move at the same rate as the rest of the traffic.”
Among accidents possibly due to the weather was one that slightly injured a battalion chief for the Countryside Fire Protection District responding to an alarm about 12:30 p.m. at On The Border restaurant, 535 N. Lakeview Parkway in Vernon Hills.
Chris Reynolds was treated at Advocate Condell Medical Center and later released. According to Deputy Chief Kris Kazian, Reynolds was driving the incident command unit east on Lakeview Parkway when a car heading north on Fairway Drive struck the passenger's side of the van. Reynolds had lights and sirens activated, and initial indications were that the pre-emptive traffic device used to change the lights to green was activated, Kazian said. The driver of the car was ticketed, he said.
It turned out that a frozen sprinkler pipe in the kitchen of the restaurant burst and activated the alarm. The restaurant was closed for the rest of the day but was expected to reopen Saturday.
As was the case with last week's snowstorm, the afternoon rush hour seemed to begin a little earlier than normal Friday as some businesses and workers hoped to avoid the congestion by cutting their work day a few hours short.
“You've got people leaving (work) early, snow and us plowing,” Vernon Hills Public Works Director said of the contributors to backed-up traffic on Route 45 Friday afternoon.
All 25 of the Lake County transportation division's salt and plow trucks got on the roads about 10 a.m. Friday and weren't expected to slow down until Saturday morning, maintenance engineer Kevin Kerrigan said.
Traffic moved slowly at midday along Route 47 in Woodstock, where trucks and cars lined up at least a dozen deep on all sides at the Lake Avenue intersection.
The work of plows along Route 14 in Crystal Lake was quickly obliterated by the heavy rate of the snowstorm as the wind constantly blew new drifts across the road. Visibility was also poor along Pyott Road.
While traffic was relatively scarce along Route 31 in Algonquin, at least one vehicle had spun off the road and into a ditch. No one appeared to be injured.
The most snow was expected to fall in the far Northern suburbs at rates of an inch per hour at times, reducing visibility, according to meteorologists. Accumulations of between 5 and 8 inches were expected Friday, accompanied by bitter wind chills.
Some suburban schools announced plans to close early Friday. After-school activities were also canceled by several school districts and organizations including Carpentersville-area Community District 300, Elgin Area District U-46, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and The Boys & Girls Club of Lake County.