City officials warned Tuesday that snow would begin falling by midafternoon and that conditions would become treacherous into the night, particularly along lakefront roads where the winds were expected to whip Lake Michigan’s waves into ocean-grade breakers.
Workers fled downtown early, jamming roads earlier than usual, especially Lake Shore Drive, which is eight lanes wide in some sections. Then, as evening arrived, five accidents shut down the thoroughfare — one sent a bus spinning across three lanes.
And so, before 8 p.m., the city took the rare step of officially closing the road. But the drivers already on it were stuck there for ages. Some said they were trapped behind the broken-down bus. Others said a single car — stalled or stuck — blocked a key exit ramp for hours. (Lake Shore Drive was reopened just before 6 a.m. central time on Thursday, the Chicago police said.)
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Among the scenes described by those who spent most or all of the harrowing night on Lake Shore Drive: Frustrated drivers trying to unclog the roads by pushing stuck and abandoned cars through snow-filled exit ramps; a band of passengers crowded inside one Chicago Transit Authority bus — an express, of course — deciding after five hours to make a run for it (many were forced to turn back); people who ventured out, perhaps from their homes along Lake Shore Drive, to deliver cereal bars, water and Gatorade to those stranded.
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On one standing-room only bus (with no toilet), passengers bonded over shared Cheez-Its, crossword puzzles and jarring moments when the back door would suddenly burst open in the raging wind.
At least one passenger said she was having trouble breathing at one point, but appeared better after getting help from another passenger with medical experience. After more than five hours, about a dozen passengers decided to flee on their own.
First of all, what is this business of "making a run for it," or "deciding to flee on their own?" What is this, The Great Escape, with Steve McQueen? And who, exactly, "forced them to turn back?" The Lake Shore Drive Snowstorm Police?
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you'll have to get back on the bus."
"Go @#$% yourself, Charlie!"
And as for all those swells who "ventured out ... from their homes along Lake Shore Drive to deliver cereal bars, water and Gatorade," did it ever occur to them that if they could make it to the bus from their homes, perhaps the people on those buses could make it to their apartments?
"Do you think ... we could warm up ... at your place ... or at least go to the bathroom?"
"Uh, I'm afraid that would be impossible. Whoa! Look at the time -- I gotta go home and catch The Biggest Loser! Good luck, everybody..."
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