MAPLE GROVE, Minn. -- On Wednesday, the roads on Interstate 94 North of the Twin Cities were as clear as the skies above. The same couldn't be said for the preceding Monday, which was a dangerous and deadly day. And another more powerful, snowy blast is expected for the coming Sunday. Meteorologists expect 6 inches or more through much of the state.
While many say that stretch of I-94 between Alexandria and North Dakota is troubling during a snowstorm, traffic data suggests it's no worse than other rural stretches of interstate. MnDOT reports nearly 17-hundred crashes on that stretch of 94 in the past 5 years, many of them occurring during the winter months. Again, MnDOT notes it is not an usually high number for roads with similar traffic volumes.
Troopers and truck drivers will tell you any stretch of interstate is troublesome with blowing slush and snow to worry. Visibility is often an issue too. "You'll be fine one minute, look down the road ten miles, you know, white out," longtime driver Jeff Juneski said while topping off fluids on his rig at the rest stop near Maple Grove.
"That wet slushy stuff that we had the other day; you get off track a little bit, your vehicle starts pulling and you don't know which way it's going to go," Juneski explained.
Sgt. Jesse Grabow is a trooper that works the western half of the state. "I think all of us here that have grown up in the Red River Valley or been here for some time, we've seen conditions where there are days where 30 miles an hour on the freeway is too fast," Grabow said.
Grabow says it's been a fairly mild winter and they have not been forced to close the stretch of interstate between Alexandria and Fergus Falls this winter. In years past they've shut it down on several occasions. A MnDOT spokesperson tells KARE 11 they shut down the highway when the plow drivers can't see what they're doing.
That could happen this coming weekend, with that big blast of snow coming. State troopers want families to think about that. "Take care of your loved ones before you take off for the day. Talk to each other, think about the roads, because driving is such a huge responsibility," Sgt. Grabow concluded.
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