INDIANAPOLIS -- An intense band of snow that mixed with falling freezing temperatures created slick road conditions across central Indiana overnight Thursday morning into rush hour, causing more than 50 crashes.
The snow band affected the region most around 12:30 a.m. and because the roads were untreated for such conditions, the moisture froze over quickly and created black ice and other slick conditions.
The worst of the crashes was a 14-car pileup on westbound I-70 just before Holt Road. It had multiple lanes shut down throughout the morning. All lanes are now open, and fortunately no major injuries were reported.
At one point Thursday morning, five major interstates were shut down or significantly hampered as a result of slide offs, semi crashes and otherwise difficult driving conditions.
A pedestrian was also struck after getting out of their vehicle because of another accident they had been involved in on WB I-70, also near Holt Road.
One driver slid off an embankment off of I-465 and I-74 near Shadeland Avenue and had to be extricated by a dozen firefighters.
The good news is that no life-threatening injuries have been reported.
INDOT officials told us that salt trucks didn't activate as quickly to quell the slick conditions because there wasn't a lot of moisture on the roads to begin with.
Indiana State Police says they responded to 50+ crashes on this morning’s commute. @INDOT says salt didn’t activate as quickly with not a lot of moisture on the roads — causing all the pile ups @rtv6
— Stephanie Wade (@stephmwade) March 8, 2018
Looking at INDOT cams around 1 a.m., almost every car on the road had its hazard lights flashing and traffic was crawling.
Then at 2 a.m., on WB I-74 near the Ronald Reagan exit, a pick up truck lost control and crashed into the barrier fence. the driver said the roads were "treacherous" and that before he crashed, he saw an accident earlier in the evening.
A semi reportedly slid off the road earlier in the same area of I-74.
That stretch of road was shut down for more than 6 hours.
Roads may continue to be slick in many spots until the sun comes out despite an increase in salt trucks out on the road, but conditions shouldn't deteriorate any further as the morning commute picks up.
