Motorists Trapped In Joliet

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) -- A travel ban is in effect for several collar counties, after commuters became trapped on area expressways overnight.

As CBS 2's Ed Marshall reports, on Interstate 55 near Lincoln Highway in Joliet, several people found themselves stranded.

Among them was a wheelchair-bound woman who was in a car with her children. Even though she became stranded only about three miles from her home, some men had to get her car out of the ditch in which she was trapped and take her to the nearest motel, where she will stay for the foreseeable future.

Another man spent the entire night trapped in a small used car lot, because no one could come and rescue him from the drifts.

Will County was one of several counties that enacted a travel ban.

In Lake County, Ill., a civil emergency was declared, and all roads were closed. Lake County has also declared a state of emergency, and officialss say more than 200 people have been put up in temporary shelters after being rescued from stranded vehicles.

In McHenry County, all roads were nearly impassable, and in Grundy County and points west, I-80 was closed between mile markers 112 and 58. The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.