Winter storm strands drivers for hours in freezing conditions on Interstate 40

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Winter storm strands drivers for hours in freezing conditions on Interstate 40

The Brief

Interstate 40 was closed for nearly 16 hours due to a winter storm in the high country.

Mario Martinez was one of many drivers stuck for hours.

He was just 10 minutes away from home.

WILLIAMS, Ariz. – Friday’s winter storm forced ADOT to close Interstate 40 in both directions.

Drivers were left stranded for hours in the high country, some overnight.

Because of how quickly this storm came through, multiple major highways turned messy, leaving many drivers in awful situations, some stuck for more than 16 hours.

“I was close. I was ten minutes away from Williams, which is where I live. But never made it,” said Mario Martinez, one of those many unlucky drivers.

What we know

Friday’s snowstorm, shutdown miles of Interstate 40.

The road was completely iced over, leaving 18-wheelers sliding across the highway and drivers like Mario Martinez trapped in their cars.

“It took me 16 hours,” Martinez said.

With over two feet of snow, Martinez says the road turned into a parking lot around 2:00 p.m.

“I’ve never seen anything like that on the highway ever before,” he said.

Twelve hours later, nothing changed.

“Then, it’s 12 p.m. and then it’s 1 a.m. and then, you know, you start to fall asleep a little bit in your car, but you try not to because you don’t want to fall asleep on the highway,” he said.

Why you should care

Many didn’t have food or water.

“I had a trucker in front of me,” Martinez said. “He offered me food at one point.”

Some families were almost out of gas.

“One lady had kids in her car and she was about to run out of gas, you know, and she wanted to keep her car running so it can stay warm and the kids could stay warm,” Martinez said. “It just never stopped. It never really stopped snowing.”

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