Road closures, conditions cause travelers to seek alternatives

With the snowfall and drifting conditions in southwest Nebraska on Dec. 26 and 27, I-80 was closed from Kearney to the Wyoming state line.
When the interstate closes, some travelers exit that system and attempt to continue to their destinations on state highways. Some travelers look to their GPS locators to navigate their way through state highway systems, Perkins County Sheriff/Emergency Manager/911 Administrator James Brueggeman said.
Last week after I-80 was closed, travelers were exiting in pursuit of destinations where they would be traveling through Grant and Imperial, often attempting to get to Denver through Holyoke, he said. Then on Dec. 26 Hwy. 23 was drifted shut and NDOT closed it too, he said. Hwys. 30, 83 and 61 were closed for a period of time also, he said.
There were a number of stranded motorists in the area with no lodging available. Some of the local churches have a plan in place and provide accommodations during these situations, he said.
“We received numerous 911 calls from motorists stuck in the snow,” he said. “With the limited resources we were not able to get to stuck motorists quickly and some people had to wait for assistance for several hours,” he said.
“People were advised to not leave their vehicles and travel on foot, but if they later decided to do so, they were asked to contact our dispatcher to keep them informed because resources were coming and needed to know their status,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department were out picking up or directing stranded motorists to where they could seek shelter. The Road Department was clearing roads and also assisting motorists, but that resource needs to be off the road when it gets dark out, Brueggeman  said.
“We also received assistance from some of the local farmers who checked around their county road areas for stuck motorists,” he said.
“Many of the travelers that exited I-80 that we dealt with were from warm weather states like Florida, attempting to get to Denver through Holyoke, and were not prepared for the possibility of a weather emergency,” he said. When traveling through snow country in the winter people should have adequate clothing should such an emergency occur, he added.
“We did not have any reported road or weather emergencies during the two day road closures, although we did have two traffic accidents. On Wednesday in Madrid we had a roll over accident where the driver was traveling at excessive speeds, and on Thursday we had a driver hit ice and then spin off the road,” he said.