Tippecanoe County travel watch lifted

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - In Tippecanoe County, a travel watch was issued by county officials at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The watch limits travel on county roads is limited to essential traffic.

Sheriff Tracy Brown said there were at least 25 crashes on roads Wednesday. With conditions worsening during the day, he added it was best to pull the trigger early on the travel watch.

He said conditions were worst on rural roads, especially on roads going east and west where blowing and drifting is the heaviest. While the watch remains in effect for now, Brown believes it may be lifted sometime after daybreak.

"We'll reevaluate the weather conditions and see if the road conditions have improved,” said Brown. “I expect that if the wind doesn't pick up throughout the night and we don't see a lot of blowing and drifting, I anticipate we'll look at that, we'll look at the crash count, the travel conditions and then make a change at some point tomorrow morning."

UPDATE 9 A.M. THURSDAY:

Tippecanoe Emergency Management Director Smokey Anderson issued a statement Thursday morning canceling the travel watch for the county.

Anderson says many of the roadways are still snow covered and hazardous. Motorists are asked to continue to use caution.

Anderson says caution is especially important in open areas where drifting is still occurring.