Spokane Police close hills due to snow, crashes

SPOKANE, Wash. — Update (1/11/18): Police now say closed city roads have reopened.

The city closed roads are back open. Thank you street crews. Conditions are still slick. Watch for heavy slush and standing water on the roadways.

— Spokane Police (@SpokanePD) January 12, 2018

UPDATE: According to Spokane Police, Stevens is closed at 7th. Bernard, Altamont, and Thor/Freya are all experiencing backups.

Police say TJ Meenach and Pettit Drive are closed. Maple and Monroe have tree branches in roadway but aren’t closed yet. S. Freya St and S. Ray St hills have been sanded but still may be an issue. S. Stevens is open again.

Police are now advising people to stay off the roads.

Driving conditions have become treacherous. Multiple crashes reported all over the city. Please stay off of the roads. #spokane

— Spokane Police (@SpokanePD) January 12, 2018

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As snow continues to fall on the evening commute, Spokane Police will keep an eye on the City’s many hills and could close some if accidents persist.

Just before 5:00 Thursday night, Officer Ben Maplethorpe told kxly4 News officers were heading to Ray, Sunset and Hatch to determine if they need to put up barricades until accidents and spin-offs could be cleared.

Several kxly4 viewers expressed their concerns about the hills. At one point, there were accidents blocking parts of Grand and Bernard. One driver told kxly4 she had to carefully navigate through all the cars with spinning wheels.

The City of Spokane posted to Twitter that “snow response crews have been hard at work all day, sanding, deicing and plowing.” The City also said arterials would be “mostly wet and slushy for the evening commute.”

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