Commuter Conditions

Winter Storm Pax: Raleigh-Durham Drivers Search for Cars They Abandoned During Winter Storm

Raleigh-Durham road crews and emergency responders spent Thursday moving abandoned cars to the side of the road after a traffic nightmare played out Wednesday night.

(FORECAST: Winter Storm Pax)

A 7 p.m. screenshot from NCDOT shows trouble on the roads across the Raleigh-Durham area Wednesday night.
(NCDOT Screenshot)

The situation in Raleigh was eerily similar to the event in Atlanta just two weeks ago, when thousands of people left work around lunch just as heavy snow started falling. Frustrated North Carolinians who sat in traffic for hours were forced to leave their vehicles and walk to shelter.

Officials said Thursday that people who left their cars along the road should find them in the same vicinity. WCNC-TV reports drivers who have questions about finding their car can call the Raleigh Police at 919-996-3335, NCDOT at 919-733-3861 or the State Highway Patrol at 919-733-3861. There are more helpful numbers on the tv station's website.

Traffic trouble in the Research Triangle started around lunchtime Wednesday as businesses and schools released early, just as the heaviest snow started falling. During the ensuing crunch, NCDOT online maps showed no one was moving on I-40, I-85 and other major roads.

ABC 11 in Raleigh reported during the chaos that police weren't even responding to minor accidents, instead telling drivers to exchange license and insurance information. Officers want to clear the roads as quickly as possible. One driver in Durham told The Weather Channel he'd only gone one mile in three and a half hours.

Most public transit busses were pulled off the roads by 5 p.m., The News & Observer newspaper reported. The newspaper also said the Streets at Southpoint Mall was closed for shopping, but it opened its doors to people who were stranded on I-40.

The Associated Press captured photos of school bus drivers Derese Burnette and Joan Thompson holding hands, helping each other up a hill in Chapel Hill after their school busses got stuck.

School bus driver Derese Burnette, left, holds the hand of fellow school bus driver Joan Thompson while assisting Thompson up a slick hill after their school buses got stuck in Chapel Hill, N.C., during Winter Storm Pax.
(AP Photo/Ted Richardson)

Mike Spears, 30, of Raleigh didn't wait for roads to clear before he retrieved the Mustang convertible he abandoned, The Associated Press reports. The rear-wheel-drive muscle car had slid off the road repeatedly, each time righted by motorists behind him who jumped out to push Spears back onto the trail. He was nearly out of fuel when he rolled it off the side of a four-lane city street near Central Prison.

"When I got here, my (fuel) light turned on and as I was sliding for the third or fourth time, I said, you know what, I'm done. I don't want to chance running into someone else or running out of gas," Spears said.

Spears brought friends and a pickup truck back to the spot Thursday to try to get it back onto the pavement, and they eventually succeeded in getting the Mustang back on the road.

Charlotte drivers also had trouble getting home from work around lunch Wednesday. A bottleneck in Uptown Charlotte on Independence Boulevard was reportedly caused by an 18-wheeler that lost control and spun out. Mayor Patrick Cannon told The Weather Channel that traffic had started to recover around 4:30 p.m., but the weather had prompted him to issue an emergency declaration.

A traffic nightmare played out in Atlanta on Jan. 28, when Winter Storm Leon brought heavy snow in the middle of the day. Schools and businesses closed at the same, sending millions of people onto already-busy interstates. Drivers slept in their cars overnight or ditched them on the interstate and walked to shelter.

Officials continue to urge people to stay off the roads is at all possible.