MASON CITY – The Cerro Gordo county sheriff’s office responded to two accidents Saturday at a dangerous intersection, and was refused salt and sand by the county engineer’s office to make the area safer.
According to the Cerro Gordo county sheriff’s office, the first accident occurred at 10:46 AM at or near the intersection of 310th Street and Grouse Avenue (S28). They received a report of three vehicles in the ditch. Luckily, no one was hurt, and the vehicles had no reportable damage. All the vehicles were removed from the ditch. The sheriff’s office said “a request to the county engineers to bring out sand and/or salt was made via email. County engineers refused to come out.”
Not long after this accident, at 12:31 PM, another accident was reported at the same location. Three more vehicles were in the ditch. Upon arrival, a deputy discovered one vehicle that went into the ditch had serious damage to the front end. A state accident report was completed for that vehicle. Again, no one was injured. All vehicles were removed from the ditch by a tow service.
A few hours later, at the scene of the accidents, the road and intersection was icy. 310th Street where it meets Grouse was extremely slick, making for a hazardous situation. There were several locations at the intersection were skid marks and snow tracks showed where vehicles had entered the ditches.