Snow-slick roads send cars spinning off highways around the Tri-Cities
An overnight dusting of snow left Mid-Columbia roadways slippery Thursday morning, causing several crashes throughout the Tri-Cities region.
Icy roads played a role in eight wrecks on state highways around Kennewick, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Sarah Clasen.
Two were along the same stretch of Interstate 82 south of Kennewick.
The first was just after 3 a.m. when Ariel A. Ness, 18, of Echo, Ore., couldn’t stop her Volkswagen Jetta in time after seeing a car stopped on the shoulder of I-82 near the Badger Road exit, WSP said in a release.
Ness, and the driver of the Audi, Shelli L. Jury, 55, of Kennewick, were not hurt. But a passenger in the Jetta, Zariah R. Schreiner, 18, of Hermiston, was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick. Her condition was not immediately available.
Ness was cited with driving too fast for the condition.
A mile down the road and three hours later, Miguel A Olguin Rodriguez, 55 of Pasco, was heading north on the interstate when he lost control of his Nissan Versa, said the WSP memo.
The car flipped in the median, landing on its top. Olguin Rodriguez was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital.
The state patrol cited him for driving too fast for the conditions.
Kennewick police also cautioned drivers to be careful after a man slid off the road at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Union Street. He was taken to a local hospital for what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, police said.
While the weather is expected to hover between the high 20s and mid 30s for the next for days, the National Weather Service isn’t predicting any more snow in the region for the rest of the week.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 11:55 AM.