After a winter storm blew through the San Bernardino Mountains, Friday night commuters found themselves stuck among the myriad of problems caused by ice in the roadways.
In Big Bear, reports came in through social media of cars stuck on Paradise Way near Big Bear Boulevard. Many of these cars came up Highway 18 from the desert attempting to access the resort town. Blocking traffic on Paradise, these motorists began to install snow chains in the travel lanes.
Highway 18 traveling from Lucerne to Big Bear was no exception. Ice on the roadways caused multiple spin-outs on the drive up the back side of the mountain. A heavy presence by Caltrans plow trucks and a manned checkpoint at the bottom helped mitigate many traffic problems before they even started.
On Highway 138, from Pilot Rock to Crestline, motorists found themselves spun out on wet roadways that iced over after the sunset as well. California Highway Patrol units were on scene intermittently thought the evening attempting to mitigate the problem. Unfortunately, a sigalert issued on the 15 freeway in the Cajon Pass caused drivers to reroute themselves over the mountains and inundated the roadway with masses of vehicles.
Caltrans road conditions reports indicated that Highway 138 was R2 conditions at the time with chains required from Pilot Rock all the way to Crestline. However, failure to have a manned checkpoint in the chains required area allowed scores of vehicles to attempt the ascent up the backside of the mountains. Very few people had chains in their possession, and the ones that did were attempting to install them in traffic after they spun out blocking lanes. Caltrans plows eventually arrived and attempted to clear the roadway but their efforts were hampered by stuck cars every few feet, lining both sides of the road all the way up the mountain.
Luke and Jennifer Plubell, residents from Twin Peaks, helped as many people as they could get moving through the traffic mess. “At least they are forcing them to install (referring to the manned chain checkpoint on Highway 18). Down here, honestly where the sign is, sucks. There’s no turn out for a few good turns. We’re suprised no people are over the edge.”
Jennifer, along with other local residents stuck in the mess, showed notable dismay and frustration with the lack of chain enforcement along this route.
On Highway 18, from San Bernardino to Crestline, a chain control checkpoint was established by Caltrans at the Lake Gregory stop light. This caused a significant traffic backup on the northbound 18 going through the Narrows.
Additionally, some media outlets had erroneously announced earlier in the afternoon that Highway 330 was closed but that 18 was open. Television news stations then showed coverage with fresh snow across the mountains encouraging Southland residents to head up for snow play. Motorists became confused in a hastened attempt to reach Big Bear. Thinking 330 was closed, they attempted to take Highway 18 through the Narrows as an alternate.
“We saw the 330 was closed but that the 18 was open so we thought that we could get to Big Bear by going this way,” stated Jerry Owens, who had rented an Airbnb cabin in Big Bear and was traveling from Glendale. We met up with Jerry and his family in the Crestline 7Eleven parking lot as he was getting fuel and asking around for shortcuts to Big Bear.
As masses of detoured vehicles crawled through Crestline, the west side suddenly went black as a power outage affected the downtown Crestline area. Edison could be seen in multiple places along Lake Drive.
Posters on social media stated it was “apocalyptic” as people were walking the streets lined with pitch black businesses and the town only being illuminated by a long line of headlights.
After the initial accident cleared on the northbound 15 freeway and traffic had finally started moving, a truck caught on fire and was fully engulfed by the time San Bernardino County Firefighters arrived on scene. This again caused a significant backup and a fresh new batch of motorists began routing themselves over the mountains.
We spoke with a CalTrans employee who stated that a lack of manpower was to blame for there being no manned checkpoint on 138.
A CHP officer we spoke to later in the evening stated, “The signs are turned clearly showing the current chain requirements and motorists need to be diligent in observing those signs and complying with those requirements.”
It seemed that Friday night travelers were never going to get a break on the way to their destinations. Traffic on the roadways finally cleared after 1:00am but the problems are doomed to repeat themselves as long as there’s no manned chain checkpoint on Highway 138 between Crestline and Silverwood Lake.
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