Accident On I-4 | Comment | Photos | Map | Traffic Updates

Sheriff Says Questions Remain

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by Keith Morelli

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 10:44 AM

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, shrouded in fog early this morning, said questions abound about the Interstate 4 pileup Wednesday morning that involved 70 vehicles and killed four people. He said state investigators are working to document what caused the pileup.

He said motorists should avoid Interstate 4 for the time being.

“Don’t even have a passing thought about driving on I-4 between Tampa and Orlando,” the sheriff said before dawn today.

Deputies were first to arrive on the scene just after 5 a.m. Wednesday to find the carnage in both the eastbound and westbound lanes east of Lakeland. Vehicles smashed into one another in the near zero visibility that some say was caused by fog and smoke from a brush fire on the north side of the road.

Thirty-eight people were hospitalized, five of whom were seriously injured. Rescue workers throughout the day searched the wreckage for victims and didn’t find the fourth body until late Wednesday afternoon.

Judd said he grew up in the area and that it is known for dense fog in the winter.

He recalled working on an ambulance in 1972 and being called to a scene then where authorities were “doing same thing we did yesterday.”

“This is not a new phenomenon.”

The stretch of I-4 where the accidents happened runs near the Green Swamp, and moisture from the soil increases the chance of fog.

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Fog To Spread And Thicken

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by TBO.com

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 08:44 AM

The National Weather Service is warning that fog over interior parts of the Tampa Bay area will continue to spread and thicken until well after sunrise.

The fog is mixing with smoke from fires in the Green Swamp area near U.S. 27 in Polk County and will reduce visibility to near zero in places, the weather service warns.

Those are the same conditions that some say caused the massive series of wrecks on I-4 Wednesday, and visibility can drop almost instantly from clear to almost nothing.

The fog should begin to lift about 9 a.m., though a dense-fog advisory—issued when visibility in areas is expected to drop to one-quarter mile or less—remains in effect until 10 a.m.

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| Fog, I-4 Crash Aftermath Affect Commute

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 08:45 AM

Current Traffic Conditions | New Closures, Alternatives

Thick fog blanketing portions of Polk County has forced the sheriff’s office to close more roads in addition to Interstate 4.

Heavy fog also is delaying plans to begin repaving the stretch of Interstate 4 most heavily affected by Wednesday’s crashes.

Construction crews expected to begin before dawn, but the weather is not cooperating.  The National Weather Service has issued a dense-fog advisory for Polk County until 10 a.m.

Closed roads include:

*I-4 between the Polk Parkway (mile marker 41) and U.S. 27 (mile marker 55).
*Old Polk City Road
*Old Grade Road at I-4
*County Road 557 at 557A
*Polk City Road from Lake Lowery Road to C.R. 557
*C.R. 557 from the 557-557A juncture to I-4
*County Road 557A from the 557-557A juncture to County Road 559
*C.R. 559 from Gapway Road to I-4

Commuters can use State Road 50, U.S. 92, County Road 17 and State Road 60 as alternatives.

The toll on the Polk Parkway between U.S. 92 and I-4 remains suspended until further notice to help ease congestion.

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In Their Own Words: Video Captures The Events, Emotions

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 08:40 AM

News Channel 8 Reporters tell the story of the pileup and its aftermath in a series of reports.  Here’s a quick look:

Witnesses, Officials Describe The Wreck, Aftermath

EMTS, Hospitals Rush To Help

Witnesses, Victims Call 911

Authorities Describe Trying To Find Victims

Fog Closes More Roads

Alternate Routes

Tips For Driving In Fog

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The Last Debris Is Gone

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 01:45 AM

Tow trucks removed the last wrecked vehicles by around 10:45 p.m. as bulldozers scraped the remaining debris off to the side of the road.

James Matheny, a corporal with the Florida Highway Patrol, explained that the heat from the crash and the fire melted the asphalt on about 600 feet of roadway. More than a dozen large road graters and dump trucks lined up in the area to begin an overnight repaving.

Authorities weren’t sure the road would be reopened by morning. If not, authorities could temporarily divert traffic to the other side of the road. Matheny said that decision would be made in the morning.

If there was some good news at the end of the day, it was this: There was no sign of fog.

But drivers beware: The National Weather Service predicts areas of dense fog before sunrise.

 

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