Black Ice Led to Mayhem on Massachusetts Roads This Morning

That was bad.
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Wet asphalt tail lights motion blur - low-angle view

photo via istock.com/ollo

Black ice sent cars sliding around highways and slamming into one another on bridges Wednesday morning, as overnight rain into early morning subzero temperatures led to hazards on the road.

The most severe pile-up came on the northbound side of Route 128 north of Route 93.  It involved 55 cars, 30 of which had to be towed, State Police say. Traffic stopped entirely for roughly two hours on that stretch of highway. There were “several injuries,” police say, but none are “believed to be serious.”

A portion of Route 93 at 495 in Methuen was also shuttered, for about an hour and a half. Videos from the highway show a tangle of wrecked cars.

The Mass Ave Bridge was closed for part of the morning commute, as were portions of Storrow and Memorial drives.

There was also a pile-up reported in Roslindale.

In a statement, Gov. Charlie Baker announced around 8:25 a.m. that he was implementing a two-hour delay for state offices:

The administration is implementing a two hour delay to allow road crews to treat dangerously icy roadways and to respond to several, multi-vehicle crashes. We urge all drivers to exercise extreme caution as driving is very difficult due to icy conditions and to be patient as public safety officials respond to multiple incidents impacting our highways.

At around the same time MassDOT urged drivers to “delay travel if possible.”

One small part of the problem, at least according to one Twitter user who lashed out at the governor and MassDOT? A less-than-great salting effort from one truck driver.

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