ELKHART COUNTY — Heavy rainfall changed to freezing rain, high winds and snow Tuesday night, causing big problems for drivers and crews struggling to keep local roads open.

Standing water and several weather related accidents shut down part of the Bypass near South Bend late Tuesday night. Road crews remain worried some of that standing water could freeze as temperatures take a nose dive overnight.

Because of those heavy rains, plow trucks couldn't hit the streets until the snowflakes began to fly. Pre-treating roads with salt would only result in washed away salt deposits along the side of the road.

Herb Stockman started his day in Iowa, where temperatures at one point were more than 40 degrees lower than South Bend's.

"It was real windy, and my windshield was icing up," he said of his travel through Iowa and Illinois.

And when he got to Chicago late in the afternoon?

"The roads were already icing over," he said.

So when he stopped in Elkhart County around 7 p.m. Tuesday and felt temperatures still hovering around 50 degrees, he had two thoughts. The first?

"It's an improvement," he said.

The second?

"It's coming this way," he quickly added with a smile.

All afternoon road crews did their best to prepare for it. They faced a major challenge.

"There isn't much we can do, other than wait for it, treat it as it starts, and hope everybody slows down," said Indiana Toll Road Maintenance Manager Pat Condon.

As rain fell, so did the mercury, then came the snow and the winds.

Semi drivers like Lanny Kruckeberg felt it.

"The wind was picking up, you could really tell," he said after making the first leg of his journey from Chicago.

That's why he came up with a new plan.

"If I start slipping, I'm going to a motel," he said. "I don't want to go in a ditch!"

Toll Road officials revised their plans too after seeing double and triple trailers struggling against the elements.

"We'll ban them from the road tonight if this wind gets what it's supposed to be," said Condon.

That ban has not taken effect yet, but Condon says the Toll Road management will be keeping a close eye on conditions throughout the night.