An influx of pothole crews will be hitting the roads Friday around Northwest Indiana after a freeze-thaw cycle culminating in freezing rain Thursday devastated area roadways.
The Indiana Toll Road was shut down for about 45 minutes and South Shore riders were left stranded for up to five hours Thursday in Chicago’s Hegewisch section after the ice prevented the train from making it up the incline at 111th Street.
Public works directors from around the region say they will be working fast to patch the potholes that have reopened in the heaving and contracting roadways as they tried to battle a week of deep freeze single-digit temperatures followed by Tuesday’s 50-degree temperatures and Wednesday’s thunderstorms and freezing rain.
“It just looks like bombs went off all over. We have to get to those fast,” Gary Gleason, Hammond’s public works director, said. Expect to see a pothole crew in each of the city’s six districts Friday, he said. He said it will be a busy day of patching to try and get the potholes filled before more damage to the roads can occur.
Gleason said city workers were able to stay on top of the overnight freezing rain. A water main break in the Robertsdale neighborhood around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday kept city workers on their toes as well. About 750 tons of salt and 1,500 gallons of calcium chloride were used to keep the ice at bay, he said. Crews started Wednesday evening and worked through the night, he said.
“Ice does kick our butts way worse than snow,” he said.
In Valparaiso, Public Works Director Matthew Evans described the weather as a “minor icing event.”
“We have had in the past significant icing events that shut down the city,” Evans said. This time around it was patchy black ice and a glazing in some areas. The main roads remained mostly clear. He said the unusual combination of cold, rain and even thunder and lightning in the middle of January has been a problem
“The weather has been very difficult in terms of dramatic cold. It’s destroying roads, causing them to heave. When that happens, it causes potholes and cracking,” Evans said.
Patch previously put down has worked its way out causing potholes to reappear. He said the city is working to stay on top of the weather and the conditions it creates.
South Shore riders trying to avoid the icy road conditions found their own problems on the rail line.
Passengers who board at the East Chicago Station on Indianapolis Boulevard said they were stuck on the 6:20 a.m. train until around 11:30 a.m. with no heat and overflowing toilets because of the weather. Engineers tried and failed to get past the incline at 111th but were able to get the train back to the Hegewisch station, where many riders, including Juwanda Franklin, of Gary, called an Uber to get her back to East Chicago.
“The 5:40 a.m. was down, so (conductors) loaded everyone on that train onto the 6:20 a.m. (The 6:20 a.m.) one’s the express train, but they stopped at Hammond, and then at Hegewisch, so a six-car train was on an eight-car train with the eight-car people,” Franklin said. “(Engineers) passed Hegewisch and were moving slowly until they got to the incline. They backed up three times and finally got over the hill but saw they couldn’t go further because of the ice.
“Needless to say, I’ve been trying to get to work since 6:20 this morning. I am going home and having a glass of wine.”
A Highland woman who asked that her name not be used had a friend pick her up from Hegewisch. The man warmed up her car and scraped her windows while she thawed out.
“There was one train — the 4:20 a.m. — that we heard got out, but the 5:45 was parked,” the woman said, motioning toward the train still on the East Chicago platform. “Our train was going slow and then tried three times to get up the bridge. It wasn’t scary, but they should’ve just stopped when they saw it was going to be hard.”
The woman said her fellow passengers remained calm and good-humored throughout the ordeal. The only concern for some was a pregnant woman who’s a week away from her due date, she said.
“It was standing-room-only but she was sitting down, and she started getting hot,” the woman said. “We told the conductors to open a door or something for her, and they would every so often. But everyone was calm and making jokes because it happens. It’s nature.
“But they really should’ve stopped. I’ve been stuck on a train for three hours once, but this was 5 1/2 hours.”
For Franklin and the Highland woman, their bosses understood, they said. Kevin Reed, of Crown Point, however, is a contractor and didn’t have his phone charger on him.
“I couldn’t get a receipt for my ticket unless the conductor gave it, and you had to ask them because they weren’t just handing them out,” Reed said. “I’m pretty sure my boss wants me to come in, so now, I’m going to get in my car and hope the Skyway is safe to drive. And I’m still out $300 for the time I missed.”
Scott Redigar, Crown Point’s director of public works, said this year’s weird weather created prime conditions for mild flooding and standing water in various areas throughout the city overnight Wednesday. Late dropping leaves, many still in parkways waiting to be collected, combined with the strong gusting winds meant a lot of the catch basins throughout the city became blocked with debris.
“It was scattered throughout,” Rediger said of the standing water. Greenwood Avenue near Indiana Avenue, the low-lying areas of Lake Street and some areas on the north end of the city had standing water issues. Crews were out in full force salting and clearing catch basins.
Roads were relatively clear during the worst of the freeze in the morning and unlike in some other communities, schools opened without a delay because the routes were treated.
“We also have pot hole trucks out in full force,” Rediger said.
While local communities had fewer issues with the freezing rain, icy conditions on the Indiana Toll Road Thursday morning resulted in 18 crashes near the Calumet Avenue interchange prompting the closure of all lanes of the roadway for cleanup, Sgt. Tim Moon with the Indiana State Police said. There were no serious injuries.
“Today caught us flat footed,” Moon said. “This morning we had some problems with ice that kind of snuck up on ice. Within two hours, everything was under control.”
Toll road officials are better prepared for any weather expected Friday or Saturday and he does not expect to see a repeat of the icy road conditions, Moon said.
In Merrillville, it was all hands on deck with trucks out to salt, Richelle Adams said. The town experienced some icing conditions particularly from 89th to 93rd streets on Chase Street, near 90th Avenue and Mississippi Street, and near 84th Drive and Merrillville Road.
“Everyone available was out to salt,” she said.
The same was true in Lake County’s unincorporated areas, where Duane Alverson with the county’s highway department, said its roads were 90 percent clear with all drive lanes open by early afternoon.
“We’re in good shape,” Alverson said. “All our trucks are out, they are hitting their routes and getting the material down.”
Some areas experienced standing water, in part because the ground is too frozen to absorb the rainfall. He said the department is ready for any weather that may come Friday or Saturday.
“We don’t expect too much more precipitation,” Alverson said.
Carrie Napoleon and Michelle Quinn are freelance reporters for the Post-Tribune.
