Hearing set to find why ice lingered on freeways

Arkansas legislators plan to meet Tuesday to review the state Highway and Transportation Department’s response to sleet and snow on roadways that stranded thousands of motorists in eastern Arkansas early this week.

Officials from the agency and the Arkansas State Police have been asked to appear at a hearing of the Senate Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee and the House Public Transportation Committee and explain their agencies’ storm responses. The hearing is to begin at 10:30 a.m., a few hours before the Arkansas Highway Commission is to meet also to discuss the storm response.

Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, along with Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, sent a letter Wednesday to the chairmen of the two committees asking that they convene a hearing to “ re-view and discuss the significant highway problems that occurred during the most recent ice storm.”

Ingram said Wednesday that he was pleased that the chairmen responded so quickly.

“I wanted to have the meeting while everything was fresh in everybody’s mind, in order for us to look at what was done right, what was done wrong and what we could do better to provide a safer protection for our citizens,” he said. “This meeting is not in any way to scapegoat or in any way to lay blame. But we need to look at what did or didn’t happen. It’s worth it on everyone’s part to let our citizens know this is not something we take lightly.”

Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, the chairman of the Senate committee that’s convening Tuesday, said he agreed to the meeting partly so the full scope of the winter-storm problems could be explained.

“There were some extenuating circumstances there, and I’m not going to try to blame anybody,” Sample said. “We had record sleet fall, a lane closure from construction and some truckers who just climbed back into their sleepers … and had to be woken up by state police to get the traffic moving. I want to bring those issues to the front and let those circumstances be known.”

The decision to hold the hearing comes a day after Gov. Mike Beebe chastised the Highway and Transportation Department for its “unacceptable” response to the storm. Drivers were stranded on Interstate 40 near Forrest City, and on Interstate 55 between Blytheville and the Missouri line Monday night and into Tuesday, after dozens of trucks jackknifed in road-construction areas that had lanes closed even before the icy weather.

Beebe and Ingram referred to reports and photos provided by motorists that compared the conditions of Arkansas’ post-storm roads with those in Missouri. Several photos posted online showed that road conditions improved greatly the moment drivers crossed from Arkansas into Missouri.

But it wasn’t just north in Missouri that roads were better, drivers said. Roads were also better in Memphis to the east.

“I got calls from constituents who said our response did not quite measure up to that of the [Tennessee Department of Transportation],” Ingram said. “There are a myriad of factors in this. Maybe they didn’t get as much precipitation. But many people said they felt they could travel safely in Shelby County [Tennessee], but once they got to the bridge [crossing into Arkansas], they were met with ice.”

Ingram said lawmakers should look at what factors were unavoidable in Arkansas and at what the other states did differently than Arkansas did.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service’s North Little Rock office said the temperature and the precipitation dropped quickly during the storm.

“I would say from a sleet standpoint, it was unusual,” said John Lewis, a senior forecaster in the office. “I can remember one or two other events with sleet,but not like this one. It was widespread and heavy, and it came down quickly. We got calls from some people who have lived here all their lives and said they had not seen so much sleet in their life.”

Craighead, Poinsett and Greene counties reported 4 inches of sleet Sunday, and up to 6 inches fell in some areas of Mississippi County. Quickly dropping temperatures added to the speed of freezing on the roadways.

Randy Ort, spokesman for the Highway and Transportation Department, said the frigid conditions made some of the anti-icing chemicals that were sprayed on the roads ineffective.

Ort said department Director Scott Bennett was unavailable to respond to the governor’s concerns earlier this week because he was in court giving a deposition that had been scheduled for several weeks. He said Bennett planned to be at the hearing next week.

“We are going to make sure we have all of our facts and timelines ready to present and address the committee,” Ort said. “We’re gathering information on when and what our crews did, traffic movements and specific accidents that affected our efforts to clear the roads.There was some rerouting that may have put more traffic on I-55 than normal.”

Ort said the agency is also gathering information about what measures nearby states used to clear the roads.

“Every state gets hammered in every snowstorm. That’s the reality,” he said. “I’m not making an excuse. I’m saying we should look at everything. Let’s have a clear picture of what each state is working with, that includes personnel and types of equipment. We got more accumulation in northeast Arkansas than even in southern Missouri.”