If you think ramps and bridges were slick this morning, you were right.

State Motorist Assist crews responded to 75 incidents this morning, including 23 crashes. Interstates and ramps were closed at more than a half dozen locations across the area, some for up to 90 minutes: Highway 40 (Interstate 64) and Interstate 170, Highway 40 and Highway 141, Highway 40 at Clayton/Warson roads, Interstate 270 at Highway 40, Interstate 44 at Kingshighway, I-44 at Vandeventer, and I-270 at I-170.

The ice hit around 3 a.m. MoDOT, St. Louis County and St. Louis city crews had trucks out pretreating bridges and ramps before the moisture hit. So if bridges and ramps were treated, why were so many of them icy? St. Louis Streets Director Todd Waelterman said it has to do with the concrete surfaces on most of these ramps and bridges. Concrete is more durable than asphalt, but it doesn’t do as well absorbing or retaining heat from the previous day.  

Tom Blair of the Missouri Department of Transportation reminded drivers involved in fender benders to move their vehicles from the road. To read today’s traffic report from MoDOT, click here.