Dust closes I-40
Zero visibility forces motorists off of highway

A New Mexico State Police officer directs traffic Friday afternoon along Highway 122 near Bluewater. Traffic was diverted from Interstate 40 after strong winds kicked up blinding duststorms along the interstate near Milan. (Photo by Jeremy Schneider/Independent)

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — If it wasn't dust, then it was smoke Friday on Interstate 40. Before Friday ended, both were responsible for shutting down the interstate and even stranding a busfull of students from Fort Wingate.

Winds gusting up to 63 miles-per-hour slammed into western New Mexico Friday and by 1:45 p.m. the blowing dust was so thick near Milan that the state police reported visibility as "zero." Minutes after zero visibility was reported the state police shut down all traffic on Interstate 40 going east and west.

Unlike a year ago at almost the same time, though, there were no highway deaths related to the blowing dust.

"We had two accidents, both of them fender benders, one on the interstate and the other on (New Mexico) 122," said Sgt. Rick Doty.

Emergency personnel re-routed traffic off Interstate 40 to New Mexico 122 around the area where visibility was zero. The dust was in exactly the same place as last year, from about Mile Marker 79 in Milan and west to about Mile Marker 72.

District 6 Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Rosie Sais reported the Grants Patrol emergency trailer unit was on its way to the highway closure. The trailer is a self-contained unit offering road closure signs, flashing lights, everything needed for highway emergencies.

Shortly after the highway was closed, State Police Spokesman Lt. Jimmy Glascock said the road will remain closed until the winds subside. "This is a lifesaving measure," Glascock said. "We want to do everything we can to prevent the tragedy that happened last year."On April 22, 2004, Dwayne Hamilton, 72, and his wife Nancy, 70, were killed when their vehicle was completely swallowed by dust and they were caught up in an 18-vehicle chain reaction accident which also injured 13 people, six of them critically. Six days later the winds kicked up again causing the dust to swirl into blinding brown clouds which instantaneously reduced visibility on the interstate and a 56-year-old Ohio trucker died in a grinding crash.

The dust is being fed by a critically-dry 300 acre field south of the interstate. It has little vegetation on it and despite recent rains which saturated the ground, the winds Thursday and Friday quickly sucked up any lingering moisture. The dust simply swirled up off the ground into a blinding dust storm.

Thousands of cars and trucks travel the highway each day and the traffic quickly jammed up as emergency officials tried to re-route the traffic onto New Mexico 122. The eastbound line of defense was first established at Mile Marker 72 at the Bluewater Exit. It was later backed up to Mile Marker 63 at Prewitt and finally at Mile Marker 53 at Thoreau.

All available help was called into action. An exhausted State Police Sgt. Rick Doty said 14 state police officers were working the dust storm, as well as officers from the Milan Police Department, the Grants Police Department, the McKinley County Sheriff's Department, the Cibola County Sheriff's Department, Grants Fire and Rescue, the Navajo Police and even the Red Cross.

About 4 p.m., however, Interstate 40 got hit with a double whammy ... a fire along the interstate in Berrnalillo County near the Route 66 Casino. "It was blowing smoke across the interstate, so we had to shut it down there too," said Glascock.

At 10:30 p.m. Friday the state police said all west and east traffic along the interstate was still stopped because of the blowing smoke across the highway.

About 8 p.m. the interstate was re-opened outside of Milan, but the highway was still closed at Mile Marker 126 because of the blinding smoke.

The fire began in the construction area on the interstate at Mile Marker 137. Police radio traffic attribute the fire to a motorist flipping a cigarette into a pile of wood-chips deposited along the highway.

Strong winds in the area whipped the fire into a frenzy. Meanwhile, traffic kept jamming up more and more in both directions. Route 66 Casino opened the doors to its theater so stranded motorists could get a few hours of sleep.

About 7:40 p.m. the State Police reported a school bus was stranded in the traffic and the bus was filled with children. "They need food and water out there," a voice on the police scanner said.

Glascock said a state police officer heard the call for help and managed to get a case of bottled water to the bus. Glascock said the bus was full of students from Fort Wingate. "That's all I know about it now," Glascock said.

The National Weather Service is predicting more strong winds for the area today.