VIDEO – Storm Caetano: on the A36 motorway, hundreds of vehicles trapped by snow

A night spent in his vehicle. This is the mishap experienced by hundreds of motorists and truck drivers, stranded since Thursday, November 21 on the A36 motorway, near Montbéliard (Doubs). Snowfall made the road too slippery to continue driving. The only solution: stay put. The situation is improving this Friday morning for motorists but not for truck drivers, according to Vinci Autoroutes webcams.

Traffic “very strongly discouraged”

Traffic difficulties have increased due to the Caetano storm which is currently hitting France. Late this Thursday afternoon, around 5 p.m., trucks found themselves across the tracks on the A36 motorway, in the Beaune-Mulhouse direction, near Montbéliard. The difficulties are concentrated around exit no. 9 (Sochaux-Exincourt).

The black ice then prevented everyone from restarting and dozens of kilometers of traffic jams quickly formed, trapping motorists for part of the night. Some could not be evacuated and remained in their cars, while up to 15 cm of snow fell and temperatures were below zero.

“It’s 12:56 a.m., we’ve been stuck for three hours and it’s a disaster”says a man behind the wheel. “We didn't even do a kilometer in four hours but it's okay because I have fuel, I hope everyone is in the same situation as me”asks a woman.

Around 2 a.m., however, a few motorists “wrecked on the road” were able to return home, when the police reopened the left lane for a few kilometers. However, 150 trucks are still stuck, perhaps for several more hours.

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APRR (Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône), the company managing the A36, “strongly recommend against” to take your car on this axis this Friday. School transport is also at a standstill around Montbéliard.

Other roads are affected, such as the A6, in Yonne, where the situation is still frozen this morning.