All Chesterton High
School sports events were postponed.
Although at
mid-morning today the Weather Channel reported the local temperature to be
36 degrees, it was forecasting a steady drop to below freezing by 2 p.m.,
with the low expected to be around 16 degrees.
Meanwhile, the
yo-yoing temperatures over the last 24 hours have played havoc with traffic,
leaving area roadways ice-glazed and slick. Chesterton Street Commissioner
John Schnadenberg told the Chesterton Tribune that he began receiving
reports of multiple crashes and slide-offs on Ind. 49 about 4 p.m. Tuesday,
by which time he’d already dispatched his full fleet of seven salters onto
the streets.
“Here’s the problem
in a nutshell,” Schnadenberg said. “Yesterday we knew it was going to rain
and then freeze up. So we had all of our trucks ready and loaded. Around 4
p.m. we started hearing about crashes on Ind. 49 all over the place but we
didn’t have any accidents in town because we started salting before the
roads got slick. If you know ice is coming, you have to put the salt down
early.”
Schnadenberg’s
drivers salted until 8 p.m., then went home. But at midnight the Chesterton
Police Department was reporting that the roads were getting icy again, so
the salters hit the streets once more, until about 4 a.m. But unincorporated
roads were perilously icy this morning, Schnadenberg added. A couple of his
men who live in Jackson Township made it in to work okay, but had to keep
their speed to 20 miles per hour the whole way, he said.
CPD Assistant Chief
Dave Lohse, for his part, reported a multi-vehicle accident at 4:15 p.m.
Tuesday in the area of Ind. 49 and U.S. Highway 6 which backed up traffic
considerably, while drivers for Joe’s Towing Inc. have responded to 13 or 14
crashes or slide-offs since Tuesday afternoon.