Icy roads make for dangerous driving conditions

As temperatures drop, snow and slush from earlier in the day is turning into ice

NORTH DAKOTA & MINNESOTA – Winter may not officially begin for another couple of months, but icy weather is already here.

“[It’s] just changing the mindset to what we have to look forward to the rest of the year,” says Fargo Public Works Supervisor Lee Anderson.

That change in mindset should also mean a change in driving habits.

With ice covering some of the roads across the metro, authorities are reminding drivers to keep cruise control turned off, keep your headlights on and, of course, stay buckled up.

“Be prepared for changing conditions,” Anderson stressed. “There’s no warning light that comes on and the signal light that says, ‘Oh, it’s slippery now.'”

Multiple crashes in the region have been reported, including a vehicle and garbage truck crashing Thursday morning.

That was on County Road 10 and 166th Avenue Southeast between Mapleton and West Fargo.

Authorities say a woman driving on I-94 near Sanborn tried to pass a North Dakota DOT snowplow and ended up in a ditch.

She was thrown from her pickup and then transported to the hospital.

Crews at Fargo Public Works say they’ve been in preparation mode since Tuesday.

“We were getting everything ready that we could and rearranging our shop to put summer equipment where we could and get our equipment ready for winter,” explains Anderson.

He says there hasn’t been much of a need for plowing this week.

Instead, around 50 crew members will be out around the clock salting and sanding the roads to melt that ice.

Anderson asks drivers be patient as crews work to get the roads back on track.

The American Red Cross recommends keeping extra gloves, a flashlight, blanket and hand warmers in your car in case of an emergency.