On Sunday morning, June 26, I was on my way to the Twin Cities to visit a friend. After a pit stop in Hinckley, I braced myself for the next 13 miles of road construction. It was 10:30 a.m. I barely made it past the Mora exit when traffic came to a complete standstill. It took two hours to go from Hinckley to the southern Pine City exit off Interstate 35. The reason for the parking-lot traffic jam was an accident within the road construction zone between the two Pine City exits. According to an article in the following morning’s News Tribune (“Head-on crash causes injuries, major delays on Interstate 35,” June 27), the accident occurred at 8:30 in the morning. Two hours later, when I left Hinckley, there were no indications of any trouble ahead.
What I don’t understand is why there were no law enforcement agencies diverting traffic off of the already clogged freeway to alternative routes. At the first Pine City exit, we were all diverted off the freeway. Why were we not advised to take an alternative to trying to get through the city itself? The not knowing what was going on coupled with the 5 mph driving was excruciating and frustrating. The only “official” presence was at the exit ramp, and that was from the fire department, not law enforcement. Why was there no interagency cooperation between police, sheriff’s departments and the highway patrol to avert the parking-lot traffic? There are other routes that we could have been diverted to so the backup would not have been so horrific.
When I finally got back on the freeway, I was shocked again by the backlog of vehicles stuck in an even worse mess heading north. And the article’s mention of the accident causing “longer” delays than the normal road construction delays was an understatement.
Sue Brewer
Duluth
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