Five vehicles, including a city bus, were involved in a pair of accidents on Egan Drive Friday morning that sent an undetermined number of people to Bartlett Memorial Hospital.
According to the Juneau Police Department and observations by Empire staff, a three-car accident took place on the inbound lanes of Egan Drive and Vanderbilt Hill Road at 9:02 a.m. The accident backed up traffic during the morning commute, and a second accident followed 18 minutes later about a quarter-mile north of the first.
In the second incident, a red pickup truck struck the back of a city bus. Marlene Love, the operations supervisor for Capital Transit, did not immediately return calls seeking information about the damage to the bus.
Clear skies overnight led to frosty and slippery conditions across Juneau, which may have contributed to the accident. Lt. David Campbell of the Juneau Police Department said officers had not yet returned to the station after investigating the accidents but added, “It sounds like it’s slippery out there.”
Clear conditions created another hazard for inbound drivers as the rising sun shone directly up Gastineau Channel and into the windshields of vehicles driving toward downtown Juneau.
While the frost had melted by midday, freezing conditions were expected to return after sunset at 3:06 p.m., setting up slippery conditions for drivers heading home ahead of the weekend.
A Capital City Fire/Rescue firefighter attends to a two-vehicle accident on Egan Drive at Vanderbilt Hill Road Friday morning.
A Capital City Fire/Rescue firefighter attends to a two-vehicle accident as a Juneau police office directs traffic on Egan Drive at Vanderbilt Hill Road Friday morning.
