Freezing rain and sleet made for icy conditions early Monday on some Chicago-area streets and highways, forcing several schools to close and contributing to numerous minor accidents.
The Illinois Department of Transportation dispatched about 300 trucks Sunday evening to spread salt on roads in the six area counties, said Steve Kulm, an IDOT spokesman. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority crews did likewise, adding liquid calcium chloride to their salt to keep the pavement wet and above freezing throughout the night.
Area police said most major municipal roads had been salted early Monday and were clear of ice by the time the morning rush hour began. Private driveways, small streets and business parking lots were causing drivers the most trouble, police said.
Icy country roads forced a number of schools, mainly in McHenry County, to close Monday. Many schools made the decision as bus drivers began their early routes. School administrators at Carpentersville-based District 300 made the decision about 6 a.m.
Darlene Johnson, district spokeswoman, said, “The transportation officials just didn’t want to take any chance with the buses on ice.”
In Arlington Heights a truck snagged electric, cable and telephone lines over Arlington Heights Road just after 5 a.m., forcing police to close a section of the road in the morning.
Commuters sat in traffic near Arlington Heights and Golf Road as emergency workers raised the wires, police said. They said they believe the wires were weighed down by ice, but a Commonwealth Edison spokeswoman said it’s not clear that weather was a factor.
In Palatine an ambulance slid in an icy parking lot and struck a boulder about 6:30 a.m. No one was hurt, but the ambulance was taken out of commission.
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At 8 a.m. another ambulance heading to a car accident in Palatine slid into a parked car, Palatine Rural Fire Department officials said. A firefighter who had been going to the car accident slipped and fell on the ice. He was treated at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates.
At O’Hare International Airport, where deicing operations had been under way since Sunday night, the two major airlines, United and American, anticipated overnight icing problems and canceled some Monday morning flights, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Operations were back to normal by noon Monday, she said.