GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Officers, medical units, and tow truck drivers were kept busy Thursday morning with hours of slide-offs on the region’s expressways.
The accidents continued into the workday, and the forecast promised deteriorating driving conditions through Thursday night and Friday.
The worst situations arose on I-96 in the Marne area and I-94 at Westnedge Avenue.
The mishaps began at 4:45 a.m. with two semis that were involved in a non-injury crash on westbound I-94 at Westnedge Avenue in Portage, Mich. One semi driver swerved to avoid hitting a vehicle, lost control, hit the center concrete barrier, and hit two other semis. In the resulting backup, several vehicles crashed trying to slow down.
There was no freeway that was exempt from accidents, most of them slide-offs. The main trouble spots were I-196 between 44th Street and Chicago Drive exit 72, which spent most of the morning under 10 miles per hour, and I-96 west of Marne, which saw repeated slide-offs all morning.
Slide-offs were also common on US-31 between Holland and Norton Shores.
Morning backups were experienced on northbound US-131 from the sene of a crash at Wealthy Street back to 36th Street, northbound US-31 from a crash north of Vanwagoner Street back to the Grand River, and on eastbound M-6 around Wilson Avenue.
Crashes and slide-offs continued into the workday hours, and driving conditions were expected to worsen with snow forecast for Thursday and into Friday.
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