Hwy 41. reopened after 20-car pileup at Butte des Morts bridge

OSHKOSH (WITI) -- Slick roads and crashes slowed down travel for much of the day on Tuesday, February 19th. A crash involving two dozen vehicles closed down the northbound lanes on the bridge over Lake Butte des Morts.

The snow stopped falling early in the day, but wind and a layer of ice underneath made for tricky travel -- and that appeared to have been the case over Lake Butte Morts.

Mike Moon: "I looked behind me and I saw the semi behind me isn't stopping. I can see him he's sliding, he's sliding, he's just slipping," Mike Moon said.

Mike Moon's SUV was struck by a semi.

"It jostled me a little.  It shook me up," Moon said.

As Moon drove north on 41 across the Butte des Mortes bridge Tuesday afternoon, a dangerous scene unfolded.

"I see what looks like a small accident in front of me, traffic's slowing down, so I slow down and move into the left lane," Moon said.

That's when the semis behind Moon crashed, one sliding into Moon and causing a domino effect.

"I just braced myself and hoped I didn't get hurt," Moon said.

Luckily Moon says he was not seriously hurt.

The Winnebago County Sheriff says 24 vehicles were involved in all. He says the icy, white out conditions on the bridge likely took drivers by surprise.

"Kind of took us off guard.  The weather reports we were seeing were different than what actually happened," John Matz said.

Now the sheriff's department has to combine 24 stories to find out exactly what happened.

"We'll piece together what occurred in this chain-reaction crash," Matz said.

Moon says he is counting his lucky stars.

"It's not every day you look and see a semi coming at you. So it was scary, but I'm thankful I wasn't too badly hurt," Moon said.