A quick burst of wintry weather caused a compete shutdown of I-94 in northern Racine County early Saturday morning.
The sheriff’s office says a combination of snow and freezing rain caused a layer of ice to form. This led to five accidents within a 40 minute period between 5 Mile Road and 8 Mile Road.
The worst one occurred just before 3:30 a.m. when a semi traveling northbound hit and went through the median wall near 6 Mile Road. This caused some of the wall blocks to spill into the southbound lanes, resulting in several other vehicles skidding and striking the blocks.
Other accidents included:
– At 3:24: a one-vehicle accident at Highway G at the northbound off ramp for I-94.
– At 3:49: a two-vehicle accident in the southbound lanes at 7 Mile Road.
– At 3:52: a two-vehicle accident with injuries involving a plow truck on Highway G at the crossover for the I94 on/off ramps.
– At 4:03: a one-vehicle accident in the northbound lanes of I-94 at Highway G.
All lanes of I-94 were closed for over three hours between County Road K and Ryan Road so accident scenes could be cleaned up. All lanes reopened to traffic around 7:15 a.m.