The Seward DieWay

Gary Mogg and Tony Perea, right, of Alyeska Towing prepare to throw a hook into the wheel well of a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup awash in Turnagain Arm after an accident Friday afternoon at Mile 98 of the Seward Highway.

One dead, 20 injured in Seward Highway accidents

ICE: Two vehicles hit the water; troopers cite conditions, slippery road for wrecks.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News

Published: November 12, 2005
Last Modified: November 12, 2005 at 03:50 AM

Twenty people have been hospitalized and one person has died in the last three days from accidents on a 60-mile stretch of the Seward Highway, Alaska State Troopers said.

Friday afternoon, a pickup careened off the highway near Bird Point and ended up partially submerged in the icy waters of Turnagain Arm. The night before, another vehicle skidded off a bridge and over a guardrail into 20 Mile River.

Girdwood troopers Sgt. William Welch, who polices the zone from McHugh Creek to Hope where the accidents have occurred, said people are driving too fast for the thin layer of ice on the highway.

"All of (the accidents) were caused by driving too fast for the road," he said.

The Seward Highway -- with its majestic views of Turnagain Arm -- is the only road south of Anchorage to Seward, Soldotna and Homer. Also regularly traveled by commuters in Girdwood, it is one of the most heavily trafficked roads in the state. But Welch says impatient drivers -- whether it's speeders in the summer or those not paying enough attention to icy, snowy conditions in the winter -- need to slow down.

Welch said early Friday evening he hasn't even had time to do all the paperwork on the recent spate of accidents because the calls keep coming in.

Friday afternoon, the third accident of the day on the highway was a dentist who lost control of her Chevy Avalanche at Mile 98 north of Bird Point. Jamie Chiang-McCasland, new to Seward from Texas, was driving to Anchorage about 2:30 p.m., according to a friend who was driving in another car.

Chiang-McCasland was driving about 55 mph in the far right lane of the four-lane straight stretch of road when she lost control, skated across the lanes, and veered off the highway. The Chevy bounced over the Alaska Railroad tracks, flipped, and landed in the snow topped waters of Turnagain Arm, troopers and a witness said.

"She just hit it and got sucked in and kept going," said friend Bobby Newnam, who watched the accident from the rearview mirror of his Saturn. "It scared the you know what out of me."

Chiang-McCasland wore her seat belt and was not injured. She was able to crawl out of the pickup as it began to sink into the arm, Newnam said. The vehicle's horn sounded, with its lights on, as the water rushed in, he said.

"The angels had her," he said.

An hour after the accident, only the pickup's roof was visible. A tow truck was preparing to pull it out of the water. Because the pickup rolled over the railroad tracks, Alaska Railroad authorities stopped all trains until the tracks could be inspected for damage, said Dana Massey, contract security officer with the railroad.

Less than 24 hours before Chiang-McCasland's accident, two people in a Dodge Durango soared off the bridge and plunged into the dark, frigid water of 20 Mile River Thursday night. Welch said the two occupants, who suffered hypothermia, were taken to a hospital, and released.

"I think the ice cushioned their fall so they could get out," said Gary Mogg, the Girdwood-based owner of Alyeska Towing and Repair, which retrieved the truck. "Everything must have been working right for them."

Jared "Jet" Kuhnley, a driver with the towing company, said he had to fish for the vehicle with a hook from the bridge, because it was completely submerged and invisible. Once he and Mogg got the grapple attached, they hoisted it to the surface and managed to drag it sideways to the bank, Mogg said.

Kuhnley said he's been doing his job for 10 years, and he always seems to be busier when snow first starts to fall.

Chiang-McCasland's Friday accident was within sight of where 31-year-old Barbara Osborn of Kenai died Wednesday afternoon in a two-vehicle wreck. Osborn's 2005 Ford Focus swerved into the oncoming lane on the icy road and into a Plymouth van occupied by an adult driver and five children. The driver, Jamie Bordelon, and the children were injured and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Welch said the accidents began to mount Wednesday when low temperatures and precipitation created a layer of icy wrap over the roads -- nearly invisible to the eye but treacherous.

"People need to slow down, monitor their speed and adjust their speed for the roads," Welch said.

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Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at mrholland@adn.com.