Wednesday was a bad day for driving in the Milwaukee area.
Three cars got into an accident on I-43 southbound near downtown during the afternoon, backing up traffic all the way to Good Hope.
Several accidents also snarled traffic on Milwaukee County freeways Wednesday morning.
We now know speed and inattentive drivers are suspected in at least two of those accidents that affected many so many people. Around noon, a stretch of highway near the Zoo Interchange was a mess.
Around 10:30 a.m., a dump truck tipped, spilling its load of salt on the southbound 45 ramp from eastbound I-94. One person suffered minor injuries.
The ramp was shut down for a time, leading to a long delay. Drivers jumped off where they could.
"So I got out early, I mean, I exited sooner and then took the back roads to continue my trip,” driver Lilly Acevedo said. “Usually it's a pretty smooth drive at that hour.”
She wasn’t alone. Seventeen crashes were reported by the DOT on Milwaukee-area interstates and highways Wednesday morning. I-43 saw multiple accidents from 112th to 124th Streets, including a jackknifed semi that shut down northbound traffic for more than an hour.
"Probably around like 7:30, I was driving to school and there was probably flurries coming down for half an hour. It was a little slippery, a lot of salt on the road. I didn't see any accidents, but it was a little dangerous," driver Sam Huxley said.
