A late-afternoon ice storm yesterday left dozens of wrecked cars littered along major roads and brought traffic on the highways to a standstill, leaving commuters bumper-to-bumper for hours.
In Harford County, 23 people were injured in an accident involving a Harford Transit bus and several cars on Route 22 in Churchville about 4:30 p.m., said Sgt. Christina Presberry, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office. The victims, all with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, were taken to Upper Chesapeake and Harford Memorial hospitals.
The weather - so bad that for the first time in memory polls were kept open an extra 90 minutes to allow people more time to vote - also contributed to a pileup in Prince George's County, where as many as 20 vehicles were involved in a crash on the ramp carrying Route 210 over the Capital Beltway.
Major temporary road closures in the area included Interstate 95 at Route 32, which was closed in both directions; U.S. 50 westbound over the Severn River bridge, where a tractor-trailer had jackknifed; and the Baltimore Beltway at Route 702.
Late last night, David Buck, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration, said all major highways were open.
Ice on the eastbound and westbound spans of the Bay Bridge was blamed for several accidents that delayed traffic for nearly an hour, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
"There were delays," he said, "but the bridges never closed." No serious injuries were reported.
At 1:30 p.m., six vehicles collided on the eastbound span, and it was 40 minutes before the vehicles were removed and road crews spread salt on the road, he said. Traffic was backed up for more than two miles, he said.
Icy roadways on the Severn River Bridge (U.S. 50) outside Annapolis caused several collisions, including the jackknifing of a tractor-trailer on the westbound span about 4:15 p.m.
Buck said the jackknifed tractor-trailer caused traffic to be detoured until shortly before 8 p.m.
"Our own vehicles couldn't get there because of backed-up traffic, so we had to take side roads, which took much longer to reach the scenes," he said.
Buck said that SHA crews were out salting major roadways, overpasses and eventually secondary roads throughout the state. "We salt, and salt, and salt," he said.
