Traffic accident slows students' return from break
Published Nov. 28, 2006
The return drive to Columbia was complicated for many drivers as a number of accidents slowed traffic going both directions on Interstate 70 on Sunday afternoon. Accidents lined both sides of I-70, bringing traffic to a complete stop at some points.
One of the accidents caused westbound I-70 to be shut down west of Columbia near the Missouri River bridge.
Drivers were unable to exit the highway and were at a standstill for at least an hour.
"A horse trailer became detached, and it struck the median barrier and overturned," said Trooper Don Doza of the Missouri State Troopers. "It stopped traffic for about an hour or an hour and a half and blocked both lanes."
Doza said the horse in the trailer survived but was injured.
"The highway was completely shut down westbound for quite a while," Boone County Fire Protection District spokesman Gale Blomenkamp said. "When traffic is backed up, especially on a Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend, it creates quite a traffic congestion."
Any time there is an accident on the Missouri River bridge, there is a dual response to the incident from Cooper and Boone counties' officials. Cooper County officials responded to the accident first and were aided by Boone County agencies.
"Our units are not able to respond by going westbound on I-70, so Cooper County is able to act on that side," Blomenkamp said.
Emergency vehicles blocked ramps leading on and off of the highway, but vehicles already on the highway were completely stopped with no opportunities to exit the highway or to turn around.
Return trips for students leaving from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis were almost doubled because of traffic delays. Freshmen Phoebe Wu and Jon Cecero each took the MO-X Shuttle from the St. Louis airport, and experienced delays throughout their trips.
"I was on the MO-X and got picked up at 4, and didn't get back until 7:45," Cecero said.
Shuttles leaving St. Louis experienced difficulty leaving the city, which riders attributed to routine holiday traffic. But traffic worsened as the shuttles approached Columbia on I-70 from the east.
"It probably took us, like, 45 minutes to get out of St. Louis," Wu said. After leaving St. Louis, Wu's shuttle did not encounter any further traffic until Millersburg.
Wu's shuttle exited I-70 and used an outer road to avoid the growing traffic.
"Then, finally we got to the Centralia exit, so he took the outside route parallel to the freeway. We were going faster than people on the freeway. There was a line of cars all the way up to the Columbia exit," she said.
Wu and Cecero spent almost four hours on the shuttles returning to Columbia. Freshman Tim Borders also returned from St. Louis on Sunday afternoon and faced thick traffic.
"We got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half and tried to use the service roads, but that didn't even work," Borders said.
He said that traffic was at a standstill for 45 minutes around 30 miles west of Wentzville.
"After that, we sat in the car for another 45 minutes until we got the chance to take off," Borders said.
I-70 congestion was visible for students returning from the west. Freshman Alex Wilson witnessed an accident several miles outside of Boonville.
"We were just driving along, and out of the corner of my eye I caught some lights coming at us, instead of going by us," Wilson said. "There was just this SUV rolling down the middle of the grassy area. Everyone else was just kind of speechless, and we just kept going. There was so much traffic we couldn't really stop."