Dallas road conditions improved Thursday afternoon following a slippery start to the day and a fatal early morning accident.
A driver died on a Central Expressway feeder road near Forest Lane south of the Dallas Hi-5 interchange of 75 Central and I-635 LBJ Freeway.
The vehicle hit a tree and burst into flames around 2:20 a.m. during a period of freezing rain.
Later Thursday morning, Oklahoma City couple Jason and Marcy Cummins stopped near the Hi-5 for gas after driving through some of the worst of the freezing rain in their pick-up truck.
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“We’ve seen a lot of vehicles on the shoulder of the road, upside down, sideways. People just don’t slow down for the conditions,” Jason Cummins said. “I’m a truck driver. I run up north. These roads aren’t bad. Not to what I’m used to. It’s the other people you’ve got to worry about.”
Trucks in Dallas did get stranded on icy overpasses early Thursday as road crews worked to apply sand and deicing materials.
Later Thursday there was some thawing as the temperature edged out of the 20s.
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At a Central Expressway shopping center near Meadow Road that was completely covered with ice in the storm three weeks ago, customers started returning Thursday afternoon as conditions improved.
“It’s melting now. Early this morning it was kind of slippery. I got in my truck and I was kind of scared. I was going back and forth. I wasn’t getting a steady speed,” Customer Jacobii Tisdale said.
The Oklahoma couple refused to let the weather stop their trip to warmer conditions.
“We’re on the way to New Orleans,” Marcy Cummins said.
Jason said they planned to get started on Mardi Gras.
New Orleans reported weather in the 70’s on Thursday.
