HIXTON, Wis. — After being closed for 14-1/2 hours by massive pileup of 50 vehicles, the transcontinental Interstate 94 reopened both directions. A eastbound single lane was opened at 8 p.m., a westbound lane at 8:33. Meanwhile, wreckers worked into the night to get hauled out of the right-of-way. The crashes on the 70 mph interstate began at 5:45 a.m. Semi-trucks and cars hit ice and slammed into each other. Miraculously the injuries, to about 20 people, were only minor. Detours around the blocked 20-mile stretch were on low-speed farm roads and took about an hour. Amish families stood open-jawed at the seemingly endless parade of cars and trucks on their quiet backroads. On the interstate, meanwhile, traffic backed up for miles.
Verbatim
Egor Morozov: “My car just started sliding. So I was still able to slow it down. My car was sliding towards one of those guard rails. I stopped. “Then, he told a WEAU reporter, a semi-truck hit his car. The car spun around, facing traffic. “When I saw the semis rolling and rolling, I knew I had to get out of the car as soon as possible. So when I got out of the car. I hopped out through a window. Minutes later, I saw an explosion. What I saw I remember forever. That’s for sure.”
Serial crashes, fires. A thin layer of ice, invisible at 70 mph, formed unexpectedly on a gently sloping section of Interstate 94 before dawn.
