Traffic From Hell
Dallas police admit mistakes in directing nightmare traffic on Interstate 635
Even on a good day, driving on Interstate 635 in Dallas can be a harrowing experience. But the hellish ordeal drivers faced on March 18 proved much worse than routine traffic.
More than a dozen Dallas police cars responded to the scene, and it appears some did more harm than good. Around 1 pm on Tuesday, police first responded to an accident on eastbound I-635 near Audelia Road. That one accident would spawn at least seven more collisions and completely halt traffic on the busy roadway for hours.
The missteps officers have copped to include directing motorists up a closed ramp. In a statement released on March 19, the police admit they made "well-intentioned" mistakes.
"We regret that because of the location of the collisions, limited access to alternate routes and directions to a closed ramp by our officer, the problem was not cleared sooner," the statement reads.
However, police claim they did not instruct drivers to turn around and go against the flow of traffic. Photos of cars facing the wrong way posted on social media prompted speculation that there was an official directive to turn around in the midst of the traffic jam. Dallas police dispute that theory.
"Some motorists, apparently unwilling to wait until the collisions could be cleared, took it upon themselves to go against the flow of traffic in an effort to get out of the congestion," the statement reads.
