The latest winter snowstorm to slam Carroll County caused plenty of headaches for motorists March 2.

Fancy Gap was hit hardest with 6.5 inches of snow that day, with roads quickly becoming slick and covered in winter precipitation. The storm became so intense in the afternoon, Route 52 was closed for a period on Fancy Gap Mountain, while traffic was backed up for 20 miles on Interstate 77 in Carroll County.

“It was basically the way that weather front moved across the crest of the Blue Ridge,” Virginia State Police 1st Sgt. Mike Musser said. “It was just one of those storms where the intensity of it was more in our area, I guess, because of elevation and the way the front pushed out of the south.”

Between approximately 2 and 3 p.m., Musser said several vehicles slid off Route 52 on Fancy Gap Mountain, including a tractor trailer pulling a cattle trailer that slid off the road and into a guardrail about a half-mile south of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The decision was then made to block Route 52 on Fancy Gap Mountain until the Virginia Department of Transportation could salt the road and push the snow off, Musser said. The Cana Fire Department also assisted. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, Musser said.

“We actually had more incidents of people stranded than actual accidents. We had a few accidents, but most of the incidents were people running off the roadway and striking a bank or fence or a tree,” Musser said. “Interstate 77 was pretty much the same thing. The snow was falling at a fairly rapid rate. Most of the problem on the interstate was tractor-trailers trying to negotiate the mountan. The road was slick and they thought they would jackknife. They were creeping along and would eventually get stopped.”

Musser said I-77 traffic was backed up about 20 miles at one point until VDOT contractor TME could clean the roads off.