Icy Highway 97 reopens after crash south of Redmond
(Update: New photo, more details)
A possible injury crash between a pickup and a semi-truck closed Highway 97 south of Redmond for a time Thursday morning as Central Oregon motorists encountered slick roadways after many hours of temperatures around freezing and bouts of rain and snow.
The highway was closed in both directions for close to a half-hour by the crash, reported around 7:30 a.m. about five miles south of Redmond.
Southbound lanes were reopened before 8 a.m., with the northbound lanes minutes later.
There also were several slide-off accidents reported farther north, on Highway 97 between Redmond and Madras.
Follow traffic updates at our ODOT TripCheck page.
The National Weather Service in Pendleton issued a winter weather advisory for the Central Oregon area until 10 a.m., warning of freezing rain and that “ice will result in very slippery conditions on sidewalks, roads and bridges, including during the morning commute.”
“Additional ice a ccumulations of a light glaze are expected,” the forecasters said, but “temperatures will rise above freezing by mid to late morning.”
We’ll have updates through the day and your Local Alert Weather forecast on NewsChannel 21 Fox at 4 and 6 (moved from KTVZ due to Thursday Night Football).
