illinois department of transportation

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - The National Weather Service says freezing rain is expected to cause hazardous conditions in Central Illinois.

Ice accumulation is at more than one-half inch in some locations. The weather service says ice on power lines may cause outages.

Freezing rain is expected to continue through this afternoon. The weather service says a second storm may bring more ice tomorrow night.

The Illinois Department of Transportation says ice is covering more than half of Interstates 55, 74 and 57.

Information from: The Pantagraph,Traffic is now flowing in both directions on the Bishop Ford Freeway, after a dump truck hit the 115th Street overpass Friday, temporarily shutting down the expressway in both directions.

The northbound lanes on the Bishop Ford had reopened as of midnight Friday, at least a day earlier than state transportation officials had originally predicted.

But the eastbound side of the expressway's 115th Street overpass will likely remain closed "for some time" until damage to the structure is repaired, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation said Saturday.

The dump truck carrying a load of gravel struck the underside of the overpass Friday morning while traveling north on the Bishop Ford.

Another car then slammed into the back of the truck.

Neither the driver of the truck, nor a father and son in the other car were seriously injured.

Several citations were issued to the truck driver, including failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and at least two equipment violations.

The dump truck is owned by M & J Cartage Co. in Cicero, according to a State Police Chicago District spokesman.

While the eastbound side of the overpass remains closed for repairs, "we'll look at the possibility of putting one lane in each direction" on the westbound side of the bridge, which has two lanes, IDOT spokesman Mike Claffey said.

Drivers are also being encouraged to take 111th Street as an alternate route.

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