The Tuesday morning commute was a slick and costly one for metro motorists. Icy streets had drivers spinning their wheels and causing dozens of accidents.

There were so many that Omaha Police had to stop taking reports on the minor accidents. One particularly rough stretch of road was on William Street at 13th. The downhill grade was completely iced over. Several vehicles slid out of control.

It was a bad storm because temperatures dropped so quickly. Water on the roads during the drive home Monday evening turned to ice in less than 20 minutes.

Roads crews got to main streets like 13th quickly, but couldn't cover all neighborhoods until late Monday morning, making streets like William virtual ski slopes.

"Some people, they don't slow down much at all and they end up all the way through the intersection," said Marshall Nelson.

"I've seen probably about 11 wrecks," said Tony Gaston. "Wreck city right here. Tell people not to travel this street, from 31st Avenue and Grand all the way up to 33rd. I tell them not to travel this street."

The untouched ice had many morning commuters frustrated. "I haven't seen one city truck, one fire truck out here," said Nelson.

"I tried to call the roads department early this morning so they could come put some salt on the ice, but it didn't happen," said Gaston.

"We have a good handle of the geography of the city,” said Fred Thole with the Omaha Public Works Department. “We try to alternate what areas we start with each storm, that way nobody's always first and nobody's always last."

Public Works says they had the main streets taken care of by 8 p.m. Monday, but even with the city's entire fleet of trucks out all night, many residential areas were impassable Tuesday morning.

"It was a situation where we couldn't just do hills and stops, we had to do a complete residential spread," said Thole. That's 4,500 miles of city streets.

"It wasn't a thin layer of ice,” said Thole. “It was pretty thick and the snow blowing on top of it as it froze. It just took a little time to get through the areas."

Public Works says It takes time with the salt and traffic to get the thaw cycle going. It just didn't come soon enough for the unlucky drivers at 13th and William, whose car parts littered the slushy street.

No serious injuries were reported, but a lot of vehicle owners will feel the pain in the pocketbook and wallet.

"It can be expensive, even some of the small things that aren't much at all can be a thousand or 1,500 real easy," says Mark Schumacher at Dave’s Auto Body Co.

He's talking about busted headlights or even a cracked plastic bumper. Add up the parts and labor and in many cases a simple repair is less than an insurance deductible.

"People are having high deductibles and they're just paying for the repairs themselves," says Schumacher.

City crews will keep working through at least midnight Tuesday. If you notice any slick spots that really need attention, call Public Works at 444-4919 any time day or night.