Icy roads in Pierce County lead to traffic delays, late starts for some schools
Below-freezing overnight temperatures in Pierce County created dangerous driving conditions on roads Thursday morning. Icy roads led to traffic delays and late starts for some schools.
Collisions that caused delays were reported on northbound Interstate 5 near Joint Base Lewis-McChord and on the Narrows Bridge on state Route 16 going into Tacoma.
Bethel School District closed due to icy roads. School districts Orting, Carbonado, Fife, White River, Eatonville and Sumner-Bonney Lake operated on a two-hour late start schedule.
The collision on northbound Interstate 5 on the ramp to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Main Gate was reported at about 6:05 a.m. and led to the off-ramp being closed, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation it was still causing some delays at about 7:30 a.m.
The exit to the JBLM Main Gate was not expected to reopen until 8 a.m. at the earliest, according WSDOT. It was still causing some delays at 7:30 a.m.
Earlier in the morning, a collision on the Narrows Bridge caused some traffic delays for drivers going into Tacoma. A KOMO News reporter captured some video of the cleanup. He said it caused miles of backups.
The collision was cleared by about 6:50 a.m., according to WSDOT. It’s not clear what caused the crash.
Road alerts were issued for nine Pierce County roads due to snow and ice, according to the county’s road status map. The bulk of the rough conditions reported between Puyallup, Graham, Spanaway and Parkland. Drivers were asked to use caution.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 7:57 AM.
