Tuesday afternoon’s closure of I-17 for the Copper Fire created traffic nightmares for Jerome, according to Fire Chief Rusty Blair. He says despite the abundant signage prohibiting vehicles over 40-feet, they had 7-oversize vehicles show up, requiring the shutdown of 89A to move the vehicles through town. Blair says both directions of the roadway had to be closed to give the drivers the extra space to maneuver through the tight twist and turns. With I-17 closed from Highway 169 to Highway 260, many motorists drove over the mountain on 89A, causing a massive traffic problem in the historic town. Blair says Jerome Fire will be working with Emergency Management to prevent this from happening again in the future.
