Road conditions deteriorate ahead of holiday blizzard

(ABC 6 News) – Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Minnesota State Patrol responded to 17 crashes, 16 vehicles going off the road, and two jackknifed semis.

Drivers say the road conditions were nerve-wracking.

“I felt uneasy. I’ve been driving for more than 25 years but today I felt a bit dangerous,” explained Abdullah Asif, who lives in Rochester.

All over, cars were slipping and sliding on the roads.

“You feel the car is just going to subside. Though it may not be going fast, you feel that. That’s what I felt. The car is gonna slip to the side,” added Asif.

Highway 52 saw several crashes, some just a few hundred feet apart from one another.

One crash happened at 9 a.m. when two cars traveling north collided. Two people were sent to the hospital in that crash.

Just up ahead an hour and a half later, another car was totaled, and no injuries were reported in that crash.

When road conditions are bad, drivers must be looking out for each other
“Everybody wants to get to where they’re going. You don’t have to be there, even if you’re there late is better than not being there at all”
Diana Stoen, who lives in Rochester, says she passed several wrecked cars, all waiting for emergency assistance.

She says sometimes it’s other drivers that make her nervous.

“Just don’t go the speed limit go maybe a little slower and use your blinkers, you know be considerate of other people don’t cut them off so much.”

If road conditions get too dangerous in the upcoming storm, highways could close.

“If conditions get to such a state we can close the highways. And that’s one of the things that’s sort of our last option, you know we may even issue a no travel advisory.”

As this blizzard moves in and the road conditions continue to deteriorate, if you have travel plans over these next few days, it may be time to figure out a plan B.