Road crews continue to plow, de-ice roads in El Paso

As the sun shined over the snow-covered Sun City, road crews continued to work to clear roads ahead of yet another drop in temperatures coming Sunday evening.

Blanca Del Valle, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation, said workers were de-icing parts of I-10, US-54 and Loop 375 Sunday afternoon.

Transmountain Rd. remained closed, but that led to a hazard emergency crews had to deal with.

People were parking on the side of the road and hiking up the steep slope, skirting the barricades set up by TXDOT in efforts to play with the snow, make memories and take photos from one of El Paso’s higher elevations.

“It’s illegal to do that,” Del Valle said. “It is trespassing.”

Not only that, it takes emergency resources from other areas as TXDOT officials asked El Paso Police to help remove people earlier Sunday . An ABC-7 crew saw onlookers were out there again by the afternoon.

In El Paso, another road that remained closed Sunday afternoon was Scenic Drive. The road wraps around the tip of the Franklin Mountains near Central El Paso.

Traffic was slow at I-10 East at Vinton, where a semi-truck jack-knifed Sunday morning. TXDOT reported minor backup after 3 p.m. as the center media remained closed. The agency did not have an estimate of when the accident would be completely cleared.

TXDOT urges drivers to stay indoors but if they have to be on the road, they advise using the far right lane of the highway, leave enough space between your car and others and also maintain a safe distance from any TXDOT plows.

For information on road conditions outside of El Paso, TXDOT recommends calling its toll-free highway conditions line at 800-452-9292 or log on to drivetexas.org before heading out.

Stay with ABC-7 for more updates.