Tag Archives: Traffic congestion

Roadscapes Wednesday: Almost Went to Jail For Roadgeeking

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Roadscapes Geek Alabama

On Saturday I experienced some traffic trouble on Interstate 20 around the Brompton exit.  While going to Birmingham on Saturday, before reaching the Brompton exit or Exit 147 on I-20, I got into the left lane and yes, a car had spinned out and hit the barrier wall.  The driver of the wrecked car was smart to get out of the way and pull onto the right shoulder before another driver hit him.  It was raining hard and the visibility was very poor.  After doing the activities in the Birmingham Metro, I was driving back on I-20 and when I hit the Brompton exit, traffic came to a dead stop!  I decided to ride on the right shoulder to exit and pulled over to get out of the car and take some pictures!

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While I was on the Kelly Creek Road bridge taking some pictures.  A police officer from one of the local cities, I forget which one, threatened to throw me in jail because I was roadgeeking.  The last time I checked, walking along a public roadway is allowed and taking pictures of roads is not against the law.  If there was not traffic backup because of yet another wreck at this stretch of I-20, I would not be there taking pictures.  I don’t have a bad relationship with most police officers.  The Alabama State Troopers and the county sheriff’s knows what me and other people do and roadgeeking is something they don’t have a problem with as long as we are not putting ourselves or other drivers in danger.

But I always have trouble with city police officers.  I have already encountered some city police officers in a very bad way.  One police officer from the city of Oxford threatened me about a year ago because I taking road pictures from my car and I was pulled over on the right shoulder.   A police officer from the city of Anniston threatened me over a year ago because I was taking road pictures while standing on the side of the road.  The last time I checked, I thought a road was public right-of-way?

It seems like I always have trouble with city police officers.  And this officer from either Leeds or Moody threatened me with jail.  You know something, if ALDOT would not have really bad standards about their highways, I would not be around taking pictures and talking about it!  Speaking of ALDOT, why in the world would they shut down a critical detour route along U.S. 78 while construction is still going on along Interstate 20?

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Interstate 20 from exit 147 to exit 156 in St. Clair County has been under construction for the last 10 years!  And this stretch is prone to wrecks that blocks the interstate for hours at a time.  U.S. 78 is closed from Cook Springs Road to the Chula Vista exit for a bridge replacement.  Unless the bridge was about to collapse, this should have waited until the I-20 construction was finished!

I was at the bridge closure and caught this double tractor-trailer truck at the bridge closure.  The driver took U.S. 78 to get around the blocked interstate and got stuck.  Many car drivers also had to turn around at the bridge closure because they were trying to get around the blocked interstate.  The truck driver had to take apart his double tractor-trailer truck and turn around!  This is dangerous!

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I guess ALDOT is wanting to anger the drivers even more to close down the detour route for when I-20 is blocked.  There is hardly any signage for the closure, there are only two barricades saying road closed to thru traffic and some detour U.S. 78 signs.  There needs to be better signage along I-20 to tell drivers that U.S. 78 is closed.

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Most of the three-lane project along the eastbound lanes of I-20 are now complete.  Here are some pictures.  Yes, the road lines needs to be repainted!

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The Interstate 65 Lacon Mountain Nightmare

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Parts of Alabama had several inches of snow fall on Thursday.  But this post is not about the snowfall, this post is about the breakdown of communication that resulted in numerous people being stuck on Interstate 65 for up to 18 hours!  I-65 along the Cullman / Morgan county line climbs up Lacon Mountain.  From mile 319 to mile 317 Interstate 65 goes through several curves, tight and narrow bridges, and the highway climbs up a mountain.  Lately this stretch of Interstate has had several big accidents that causes traffic nightmares.

laconFor up to 18 hours on Thursday and Friday morning, people were stranded on Interstate 65 in the Cullman area.  From around 12 noon Thursday to Friday morning, people were stuck on the interstate as the highway was iced over and cars could not get up or down Lacon Mountain.  Also stopping traffic were accidents involving cars and trucks.  Here are some pictures from social media.

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The traffic jams started when heavy snow fell and covered the roads.  Then some tractor-trailers jackknifed and blocked the road.  The snow only fell for a few hours but I have to wonder why it took so long to get traffic moving again.  Sure, it would take a few hours to clean up the accident and get salt and sand down on the road.  But why did it take around 12-18 hours to get traffic moving again?  Being stuck that long is no excuse people!

I have kept up with the comments on social media and on forums and I am not happy seeing people sitting on the Interstate for up to 18 hours.  People were beginning to run out of gas to keep warm in their cars.  And can you imagine the parents with small children and infants.  Most cars probably had little or no food or water.  And where could go to the bathroom if you had to go.  Sure, some people could do #1 behind a car or a tree.  But where could you do #2?

The Red Cross opened up a shelter at the Cullman Civic Center but how could people get there if they could not get off the Interstate?  I have seen some comments saying the state troopers were going to ticket people on 4-wheelers that were trying to give people food and water.  And speaking of the state troopers, several people commented online saying they are staying in their warm cars instead of checking on people.  And the Cullman County and CulIman City Police were not requested to help the stranded motorists.  I hope that is not true.

And now since they say the Interstate is open, truckers are causing a big problem.  I have seen comments online saying truck drivers have gone to bed in the cab right in the middle of the Interstate blocking travel lanes.  And car drivers are having to honk their car horns and knock on the truck doors to wake up the drivers.  At times the police are having to sound their sirens to wake up the drivers.  Yes, there are log book hours for the truckers.  They have to stop the truck after ‘x’ amount of hours. If not it is a logbook violation and goes against the company safety score which is a big deal.  This can also cause the driver to be fined or fired.  But at the same time the truck drivers should not be sleeping in the middle of the Interstate!  People want to get off the Interstate, not spend another six hours stuck.

Even after I-65 was cleared, some motorists were stranded on the highway because they could not get around trucks that were parked on the Interstate.  The police should have forced the trucks to get off the highway so stuck motorists could get off the highway at the next exit to get food and gas.  The police should also force drivers to get off the highway ahead of the traffic jam so they would not get stuck as well.  Clearly there was a huge lack of communication here!  The police and ALDOT should have forced all traffic to get off at the next exit like they do in states out west when road conditions are poor.  Being stranded could kill someone!

So after everything is cleaned up and the finger-pointing is over.  What should be done to stop the multiple wrecks happening at Lacon Mountain?  I have a couple of ideas which I think ALDOT and the state troopers should enforce.  One, no trucks should be allowed in the left lane through the Lacon Mountain I-65 stretch.  Getting stuck behind a truck going 55 in the left lane to pass another truck going 50 in the right lane should be banned.  Two, I would reduce the speed limit in that area to 55.  Having a speed limit of 70 through the Lacon Mountain stretch is too fast because the fast speed is causing way too many wrecks.  If ALDOT can reduce the speed limit along I-20 to 55 because someone got killed by a pothole.  They can do the same thing along I-65.

Eventually ALDOT will need to redo the stretch of I-65 through Lacon Mountain.  The bad curves, narrow bridges, steep hills, and high traffic counts are too much for I-65.    I wonder how many more accidents, injuries, and deaths will happen before something is done to fix the problem?  I also feel bad for all the drivers who had to suffer for up to 18 hours in the cold weather stuck on I-65.  Someone should be held responsible for this; this would have not happened in other states.

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Roadscapes Wednesday: ALDOT Bashing in Etowah County

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One thing I love to do on Geek Alabama is do some ALDOT bashing.  The state department that is responsible for maintaining our highways has been wasting millions of dollars in the last few years on projects such as U.S. 98 in Mobile County, U.S. 280 in Birmingham, I-20 in East Alabama, I-759 extension in Etowah County, and I-59 in Etowah County among others.  It’s no secret some folks over at ALDOT does not like me talking about the bad roads in Alabama.  And yes they do want me Nathan Young and Geek Alabama gone forever!  But I am not going to stop talking about the bad roads in Alabama.  I want to start with the I-59 Etowah County project.  It’s been over two years and the project to replace the concrete is still not done!  Last weekend I went up to view the progress.  The bridge on south I-59 over U.S. 11 is complete.  And the concrete overlay looks like it’s done.  But this project should have been completed long ago!

At least the new concrete is better than what it used to be!  It’s a shame ALDOT let this road get so bad!

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Next I want to talk about the I-759 extension in Gadsden.  Recently there was a story in the Gadsden Times talking about the slow progress on this project.  The Federal Highway Administration continues to ask ALDOT to look at other possible “avoidance alternates” to the four proposed routes that were introduced at a public meeting eight years ago.  The four proposed routes are shown below.

Many officials in Gadsden and Etowah County don’t think they will see this road built-in their lifetimes.  The cost of this project, if it was built today would be around $100 million!  And currently the funds are not available.  FHWA is wanting ALDOT to find a route which does not adversely impact the neighborhood, the historic districts and (the) community in general.  This basically means they want a different route.  I have proposed a different route which I think would be better.  Why not take I-759 behind Gadsden State and connect it to College Parkway.  The 4-lane that ends at a chicken plant.

While I am on the I-759 talk; I watched traffic at the intersection of I-759 and AL 291 or George Wallace Dr.  The two traffic lights needs re-timing badly!  One light stays green with no traffic around while traffic on I-759 backs up.  Then when they get the green light they only see the Academy light turn red.  The backed up traffic then blocks the first intersection.  These signals needs to be re-timed!

During Steam Engine Day in Attalla, AL.  A police officer had to stop traffic on the green light to allow pedestrians to walk across.  The intersection has ped signals but they are not working!  Lots of traffic backed up on U.S. 431, U.S. 278 and U.S. 11 because some equipment was not working!  I am surprised no one got hit or an accident didn’t occur!

 

If ALDOT would maintain their roads in the first place I would not be going around and criticizing them.  I wish ALDOT would do a better job maintaining roads in Alabama.  And believe me; I am not going to stay quiet!

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Roadscapes Wednesday: Signal Problems

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Stuff like this gets my roadgeek senses tingling.  I went back to downtown Anniston today and I still found the same problems with the traffic lights.  But first I wanted to talk about an intersection in Anniston with some pedestrian signals that are broken and not working.  The intersection of 10th Street and Wilmer Ave. has some ped signals but some of the signals are turning the wrong way and some of the visors are missing.

Half of the ped signals are turning the wrong way and missing its visor.  Plus many of the light bulbs inside the signals are burned out and not working.  Some of the “WALK” signals still light up but many of the “DONT WALK” signals do not work.  I only found one “DONT WALK” signal that still works.       As you can see the “DONT WALK” stencil is faded away and it looks like one big red light. Even worse the ped signals to cross Wilmer Ave. do not even work.  It stays at “DONT WALK” all the time.  If the city is not going to maintain and keep the ped signals working they might as well take them down.  They could use the ped signals at other intersections in Anniston instead of seeing these ped signals waste away on a pole.  Sad!

But I am not done.  The next intersection is Quintard Ave. at 10th Street.  I checked today and the ped signal to cross Quintard Ave. is still broken.  Here is a video showing the major traffic backups at this light.

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 This malfunction is causing major traffic backups and nothing has been done about it.  I used a clock today and traffic on Qunitard Ave. at 10AM is only getting the green light for 35 seconds!  A 6-lane boulevard with lots of traffic is only getting the green light for 35 seconds while the cross streets have a longer green light.  Something is very wrong here and the city needs to check the lights on Quintard Ave.

Major traffic backups!

This traffic will have to stop at the next light because of the malfunctioning 10th Street light.

The city needs to get out and re-time some of these lights.  I thought the traffic light synchronization was supposed to solve the traffic problems on Quintard Ave.  Right now the traffic lights are out of sync.  I also caught this at the 10th Street at Quintard Ave. light.  I just hope this wire is not electrified. 

 

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Anniston Storm Damage

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The Anniston/Oxford area had a severe thunderstorm come through the area Sunday afternoon.  The storm damage was found all around South Anniston.  Several power poles and trees were down throughout the area.  Several trees were also blocking roads in Anniston.  The roof of a building was blown onto Noble St.  And part of a wall feel at Express Oil Change in Oxford.  Numerous leaves and twigs also littered the roads in the area.  Pictures of dime size hail were put online.  This storm was a very welcome break from the 100 degree heat we have been seeing in the last few days.  Here are some pictures of the damage.

Cleanup has begun!

 

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A Couple of Rants

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On Wednesday my mother and I went to the Pelham Civic Center for a job fair hosted by Employment Seeker.  And we were both disappointed.  

Many people turned out dressed professionally for this job fair.  And we both thought there would have been over 600 jobs available like the local news had said.  But that figure was blown out of the water.  There was not 600 jobs there; in fact some of the employers never showed up!  Each of us was given a list of the employers at this job fair.  Let’s highlight it.

The employers available was worse than the same job fair I went too last October.  This was a disappointment that this job fair pretty much sucked!  The only employer that I feel I have a chance was Best Buy.  Their people were very nice at the job fair.  But many of the other employers said “go online” or never had a great conversation with the people.  If I am still unemployed next fall I hope this job fair can be better!  This would be the end of the post but going there and back also turned into a major hassle!

ALDOT decided to close a lane down at the Coosa River bridge on Interstate 20 with little warning!  Before we got to this traffic backup I noticed something that was not good at all.

Someone at ALDOT decided to tar out the white line for miles on I-20.  This is not much of a problem during the daytime; but at night who can see the lines on the road?  While you are at it; go ahead and tar out the remaining lines on the road.  All this is going to do is cause a major accident; oops!  Too late.

This easily reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer paints over the lines on the road with black paint to make the lanes wider.  This only causes a major problem.

This is just a major problem ALDOT continues to have.  Let’s do stupid things to cause accidents and wrecks.  And when someone gets killed because of poor roads; we lower the speed limit on I-20 to 55 for miles and let the Alabama State Troopers victimize ticket people.  I wish the troopers would enforce drivers doing bad things on the road like hogging the left lane and going in and out of traffic.  Interstate 20 from Birmingham to Atlanta has seen numerous wrecks and something needs to be done to stop the stupid drivers.  Maybe its time to lower the speed limit all the way from Birmingham to Atlanta so drivers would be safer and we are not sitting in something like this.

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