CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Multiple tractor trailers jackknifed while traveling on Interstates 77 and 64 Friday night through Charleston forcing both interstates to be closed, backing up traffic for several miles.
The tractor trailer drivers were trying to make it through 15 inches of snow that Winter Storm Jonas dumped on the area. Some of the drivers decided to try to make it up inclines in lanes that hadn’t yet been plowed, state Division of Highways spokesman Brent Walker said.
State Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox closed a stretch of I-64 to tractor trailer traffic from the Montrose exit in South Charleston westbound to the Cross Lanes exit at just before 6 p.m. Interstate 77 at the Eden’s Fork exit in Kanawha County was also closed after more than a dozen tractor trailers got stuck and had to be moved first.
Highway officials reopened I-64 at around 2 a.m. Saturday and one lane of I-77 a few hours later. Very few exit and on-ramps have been plowed as of Saturday morning making getting on and off the interstate difficult.
Dozens of drivers of passenger vehicles abandoned those vehicles in Charleston Friday, throwing in the towel for further travel. The city’s public works and police departments were working together to have the vehicles towed because in many cases they were blocking lanes of travel, preventing snowplows from making their runs.
The 15-inch snowfall by 10 p.m. was the most snow that any one storm the Capital City had experienced since the 1996 Blizzard. The city’s one-day snow total record of just more than 17 inches was also threatened. An additional 3-5 inches is possible through the day Saturday.