With the combination of Husker traffic and falling snow, driving on nights like Saturday means you must take extra caution. One Omaha resident 3 News Now spoke to said, driving home from the Husker game Saturday afternoon he wasn't expecting the roads to be as bad as they were.
His commute time doubled, even with taking side streets. “I did not enjoy driving home tonight,” said Omaha resident, Mason Rohrich. For Rohrich, what is usually a 45-minute drive took much longer. “Pry took us about two hours, 20 minutes to get home so it was still a lot, we stopped in the middle of traffic, there was a kind of bad wreck, so we stopped there for 20 minutes but that was about it,” he said.
Rohrich left the stadium around halftime. Right before snow began falling. He stuck around, watching the rest of the game indoors. Even taking back roads, he said traffic was busy. “I don't think the roads were that bad, but because so many people were taking different routes and there were accidents all over I-80, 77, 92, everywhere it just slowed everything up. A lot of places were just kinda stand still for a little bit,” said Rohrich.
Lieutenant Matt Sutter is a Nebraska State Trooper. He says normal Husker Saturdays are busy and this Saturday's weather caused it to increase. “These are very unique in nature because you have the influx of traffic and the combination with the timing of the weather, it created some significant problems,” said Lt. Sutter.
He encourages people to remember basic winter driving tips. “Anytime there is snow or slick roads, inclement weather we always advise people to slow down and increase your following distance and obviously buckle up,” said Lt. Sutter.
Even though roads today weren't ideal Rohrich says he would still brave the weather for the Huskers. “It was worth it 100% to go to the game, it was an awesome game,” he said.
Over the past two weeks, the city's response to bad roads has been criticized. However, the city keeps track of what roads have been plowed and where snow plows are. To see just where plows have been and where they're heading right now click here.
