Portions of May River Road, Bluffton Parkway reopen after ice causes accidents
Note: This story was updated at 1:30 to include information about the roads reopening.
The snow and ice that fell in Beaufort County on Wednesday continued to cause accidents Thursday evening and road closures Friday morning.
Portions of both Bluffton Parkway and May River Road were barricaded Thursday evening and Friday morning, respectively, but police reopened both stretches Friday afternoon.
Bluffton Police closed off a portion of Bluffton Parkway after icy road conditions caused a three-vehicle accident at Bluffton Parkway and Masters Way at around 6 p.m. Thursday, Nelson said. The parkway was reopened to traffic around 1:10 p.m, said the police department’s spokesperson Joy Nelson.
The eastbound lane ofthe parkway was closed down from Masters Way to Hampton Hall, and was barricaded Friday morning. Bluffton police attempted to sand the stretch over night, but the road was still icy and dangerous as of noon Friday, Nelson said.
The accident occurred when one vehicle slipped on black ice and turned sideways, crashing into a second vehicle, which then crashed into a third. No injuries were reported, and only one vehicle was towed from the scene.
May River Road was barricaded because of icy conditions Friday morning. Bluffton Police closed the road’s eastbound lane from the traffic circle at Okatie Highway to Cedar Lake Lane after a car slid off the road around 11:40 a.m. Friday. Bluffton Police called the S.C. Department of Transportation to ask for assistance in sanding the stretch on May River Road, and it was reopened around 1:20 p.m.
Between 7 a.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Friday, 119 traffic accidents were reported to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, according to spokesman Bob Bromage.
In Bluffton, 19 accidents were reported to Bluffton Police from Wednesday to Friday morning.
Kasia Kovacs: 843-706-8139, @kasiakovacs
This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 8:49 AM with the headline "Portions of May River Road, Bluffton Parkway reopen after ice causes accidents."