KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — While the snowfall total over the weekend wasn’t huge, it was just enough to wreak havoc on the roadways across the region.
In Ionia County, both sides of I-96 in Portland Township were shut down on Saturday due to multiple crashes involving more than 50 vehicles.
The first crash happened on eastbound I-96 between Grand River and Mile Marker 76. And the second, happening on the other side of the highway. I-96 in that area was closed in both directions around 5:30 p.m with MSP Troopers advising drivers to seek alternate routes.
It took several hours for crews to clear all the vehicles away from the scene. Eastbound and westbound lanes between Portland Road and South Grange Road did not reopen until 10:45 p.m., according to MDOT.
A warming and family reunification center was set up at Church of the Nazarene at Cutler Road in Portland for anyone involved in the crash. Buses transported people there.
Tow trucks took vehicles off the interstate to St. Andrew Lutheran Church at Kent Street in Portland. Some were heavily damaged.
Authorities reported there were a few injuries from this crash, but none of them were serious.
In Eaton County on southbound I-69, snow, whiteout conditions and frigid temperatures causing a bridge at Mile Marker 61 by Charlotte to freeze over, resulting in a multi-vehicle pileup there.
Communications Director for Vicksburg Community Schools Jessica Ponton and her daughter were on their way home from a figure skating competition in East Lansing would have been in that pileup had she not dodged to the shoulder on the right when she hit the first whiteout.
“I slowed down when I noticed a car ahead go off the road. There was already a crash that had an officer attending to it and more cars were sliding off the road around it. I immediately turned on my hazard lights and moved to the shoulder. Thank goodness the semi truck behind me was able to slow down and do the same. We had probably 5-6 cars fly around us. Some were able to stop, some added to the pile up. We were on a bridge and watched the cars entering the bridge in the other direction spin out and hit each other as well.”
Ponton went onto say that many of the Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association families had similar drives.
Motorists were stranded close to two hours as crews worked to clear the scene. There were no details on injuries from this crash.
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