Several collisions south of Edmonton at Leduc slow highway traffic

The winter weather is impacting travel in the sky as well as on the roads. CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson reports.

Several collisions on Highway 2 at Leduc on Friday slowed traffic in the busy north-south corridor.

Alberta RCMP said drivers were involved in five collisions over a two-and a-half hour period on the major provincial route at the city of 40,000 people near the Edmonton International Airport.

Reports on social media say accidents on an overpass northbound at Leduc affected both lanes.

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One of them, a collision between a Toyota Tacoma and a silver truck on an exit ramp, blocked one lane of northbound traffic on Highway 2.

Another was a two-vehicle, rear-end collision on southbound Highway 2 at a ramp. RCMP also reported a truck that went off the road on Highway 39 at Highway 2 along with other northbound, two-vehicle collisions.

Police issued a traffic advisory for the highway between Leduc and the junction of Highway 13 to Wetaskiwin.

RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff described the morning scene around Leduc as treacherous.

“Vehicles going off the road, vehicles striking one another on off ramps and on ramps, and rear-end collisions near those ramps as well,” Savinkoff told CTV News Edmonton on Friday afternoon.

Icy conditions west of city

Like roads to the south, highways north and west of Edmonton are slippery and snow-covered.

The province via its 511 road information service says highways 16 and 16A west of the Alberta capital are covered with snow and icy past Wabamun Lake to Evansburg, with reduced visibility.

North of Highway 16, the same conditions can be found on roads at Onoway, Glenford, Dawn Valley and Sandy Beach as well as on a stretch of Highway 33 from Gunn to Birch Cove.

North of Edmonton, the province says highways around Villeneuve, Morinville and Redwater are snow-covered and icy.

Several posters on social media reported slow-moving traffic and vehicles in the ditch along several highways on Friday morning.

Friday’s forecast in Edmonton from Environment and Climate Change Canada calls for snow up to two centimetres throughout the day and into the evening, with winds up to 15 kilometres per hour and a high of -14 C. The forecast is much the same Friday along Highway 43 at Mayerthorpe and Sangudo.

In Edson, forecasters called for a risk of freezing rain around noon and snow up to five centimetres falling throughout the day, with a high temperature of -15 C.

Also

• Elk Island National Park remains closed due to icy road conditions. Park staff closed the park 40 kilometres east of Edmonton on Highway 16 on Tuesday;
• A collision on Highway 28 east of its junction with Highway 63 west of Radway was closed in both directions late Friday afternoon;
• Highway 63 near Township Road 625, south of Boyle, was reduced to one lane on Friday afternoon as a vehicle was being recovered from a ditch;
• One lane of Highway 28 just north of Gibbons was closed at 11:15 a.m while a crew pulls a vehicle out of a ditch. Gibbons is 33 kilometres north of Edmonton.