Indiana Folks: How are the Roads?

[john_pifer]

Wife & kids drove up to Warsaw, where she’s from, and had planned originally to leave to drive home tomorrow (Sunday).

But I asked her to get the Air B&B for another night and drive home Monday instead, hoping the weather is a little better.

Forecast I saw says 7” today/tonight, 1” tomorrow and 2” Monday, and it’s not supposed to get above freezing any time soon.

We usually take I-65 through Indy & Louisville.

Anyway, just thought I’d see if any of y’all up there have any insight/suggestions.

Not really worried about my wife; it’s the other idiots out on the road.

 

[Kira]

Just reinforcement. Avoiding bad weather is always smarter, cheaper and better.
Let the storm, with its poor vis and plow trucks, pass.
Wifey's tires are what again?

edit: It's always the crazies on the road.
Drunk/hungover drivers who are inherently out of practice, harried and often behind the wheels of unfamiliar vehicles.

 

[The_Jeff]

Not just what Kira wrote, but remember the first storm of the season is one of the worst. No salt already soaked into the pavement. Other drivers on tires with another years' wear they may not have yet noticed. People forgetting how to drive. Add holiday travel impatience. Worth waiting out.

 

[02SE]

If she can wait until the weather improves, I'd suggest that. Here in mountains of the West, they have lots of serious snow removal equipment. So unless it's a blizzard, main highways aren't usually too bad. But you always have those lacking experience, and/or driving on completely bald tires, posing a hazard to themselves and others.

 

[john_pifer]

Wifey's tires are what again?

I just literally had a new set installed on her Odyssey right before she left.

Continental TrueContact Tour54.

 

[02SE]

I just literally had a new set installed on her Odyssey right before she left.

Continental TrueContact Tour54.

A fine all-season tire, but definitely not a winter tire. I'd remind her of that, and definitely don't use cruise control in potentially slippery conditions.

 

[john_pifer]

A fine all-season tire, but definitely not a winter tire. I'd remind her of that, and definitely don't use cruise control in potentially slippery conditions.

Helps that it’s a sizable FWD vehicle, I think. Should be pretty stable. It has a SNOW mode that softens throttle response a bit. Not sure what else it does.

 

[Hall]

A fine all-season tire, but definitely not a winter tire.

OP lives in TN. No point in putting "winter" tires on their vehicles.

 

[02SE]

OP lives in TN. No point in putting "winter" tires on their vehicles.

I'm well aware. My POINT is that they are not winter tires, and his family is potentially driving through winter conditions.

 

[daves87rs]

Roads were pretty bad here in MI. Was on the way back visiting family.

 

[MolaKule]

Sorry John ,don't know about Ohio but here in Iowa and MO we're getting slammed with more than a foot of snow. People have forgotten how to drive in snow.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Wife & kids drove up to Warsaw, where she’s from, and had planned originally to leave to drive home tomorrow (Sunday).

But I asked her to get the Air B&B for another night and drive home Monday instead, hoping the weather is a little better.

Forecast I saw says 7” today/tonight, 1” tomorrow and 2” Monday, and it’s not supposed to get above freezing any time soon.

We usually take I-65 through Indy & Louisville.

Anyway, just thought I’d see if any of y’all up there have any insight/suggestions.

Not really worried about my wife; it’s the other idiots out on the road.

Here’s a little tip: don’t ever drive on I-65 when it’s snowing and blowing. It’s literally a demolition derby when that happens; all of the overpasses freeze solid, and the drifts & ruts will pull the car all over the road until you’re no longer on it. An extra night stay is well worth the safety factor and not having to deal with insurance and car repairs or new car purchases.

I grew up in Gary, so I’ve got 20+ years of living with the disaster of I-65 from Gary to DeMotte.

 

[MolaKule]

Whoops, Indiana.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Helps that it’s a sizable FWD vehicle, I think. Should be pretty stable. It has a SNOW mode that softens throttle response a bit. Not sure what else it does.

It may “drive” ok when moving. But starting and stopping, physics is going to take over. Packed snow or ice isn’t going to be friendly, plus folks who live in The Region don’t have any sense on the highways to begin with.

 

[Boomer]

University of Illinois had a record amount of snow on the playing field yesterday in the game against Northwestern!

Go Illini! Oskee Wah Wah

 

[Hohn]

Wife & kids drove up to Warsaw, where she’s from, and had planned originally to leave to drive home tomorrow (Sunday).

But I asked her to get the Air B&B for another night and drive home Monday instead, hoping the weather is a little better.

Forecast I saw says 7” today/tonight, 1” tomorrow and 2” Monday, and it’s not supposed to get above freezing any time soon.

We usually take I-65 through Indy & Louisville.

Anyway, just thought I’d see if any of y’all up there have any insight/suggestions.

Not really worried about my wife; it’s the other idiots out on the road.

HI John-- sorry I couldn't reply, as I was driving those roads last night. Dropped my daughter off at Grace college on the way back from Minneapolis. I drove those roads last night; 0/10 do not recommend.

Roads were anything from really, really bad to "I'd risk a FWD car with snow tires." US-30 from Merrilville to Warsaw was essentially unplowed.

Heading south out of Warsaw, we take hwy 15 to US-24 to get to US 31 and take that all the way way to Indianapolis. The county roads from Warsaw to US 24 were brutal. AWD/4WD with good tires only, I'd say.

 

[Pew]

University of Illinois had a record amount of snow on the playing field yesterday in the game against Northwestern!

Go Illini! Oskee Wah Wah

Ugh, the one time it snows a decent amount in the past 10 years, I have to drive home from vacation. I'm hoping the highways in IL are clear in a few hours too.

 

[Hohn]

Here’s a little tip: don’t ever drive on I-65 when it’s snowing and blowing. It’s literally a demolition derby when that happens; all of the overpasses freeze solid, and the drifts & ruts will pull the car all over the road until you’re no longer on it. An extra night stay is well worth the safety factor and not having to deal with insurance and car repairs or new car purchases.

I grew up in Gary, so I’ve got 20+ years of living with the disaster of I-65 from Gary to DeMotte.

This is not as frequently the case south of Indy. It's almost as if there's an invisible snow fence near Greenwood or so.

But yeah, If you are north of Indy or (Lord help you) north of LaFayette, you are in for it.

 

[dlundblad]

Im about 30 mins SE of Warsaw. I am not sure how much snow they received, but I know they were saying something about lake effect snow pretty much all day today into tomorrow. It really hasn’t stopped snowing here so I’m not surprised.

More snow is supposed to happen tomorrow night into Tuesday AM, but it sounds like she should be gone long before it arrives.

 

[Hall]

I'm well aware. My POINT is that they are not winter tires, and his family is potentially driving through winter conditions.

I'd venture to say that 90% of vehicles on the road in Indiana (Ohio, Illinois, etc) drive year-round on all-season tires and we get snow, ice, freezing rain, etc every winter. If you can, sure, avoid driving, but sometimes you have to. I personally don't know anyone that puts full-blown winter tires on their cars.