WTOP Radio: Most common — and most wacky — forms of local road debris (https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2018/08/only-on-wtop-the-most-common-and-the-most-wacky-forms-of-local-road-debris/)
QuoteThere's nothing quite like the sensation of seeing a farm haybell feeder or a refrigerator skidding toward you while driving at highway speed. Yet this scenario played out for several local drivers over the past year.
QuoteThe WTOP Traffic Center kept a running tally of all reported road debris on Washington area highways for a full year. The reports came primarily from WTOP listeners, in addition to local police and transportation agencies.
QuoteOf the hundreds of man-made objects spotted since last August, the most common form of debris by a landslide came in the form of wheels, tires and large tire tread.
Those large tire treads are called gators by truckers.
Elk on AZ 260 which happens to be the most common debris for everything east of Verde Valley. B
Quote from: jon daly on August 28, 2018, 08:23:04 PM
Those large tire treads are called gators by truckers.
The MDOT/SHA/CHART first responders that have to get them out of the travel lanes and onto the shoulders (at least) also call them gators.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 28, 2018, 08:39:38 PM
Elk on AZ 260 which happens to be the most common debris for everything east of Verde Valley. B
No elk here, but plenty of whitetail deer that end up with fatal injury in the road (the DOT response guys call those "road pizzas") or sometimes on the shoulders.
I see a lot of pallets and pallet boards. And have seen more than a few ladders.
Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 28, 2018, 09:00:57 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 28, 2018, 08:39:38 PM
Elk on AZ 260 which happens to be the most common debris for everything east of Verde Valley. B
No elk here, but plenty of whitetail deer that end up with fatal injury in the road (the DOT response guys call those "road pizzas") or sometimes on the shoulders.
Some times if the kill is fresh enough some local picks up the carcass for meat. I used to see it all the time in Payson and Star Valley, it was amusing to see people loading their truck up on their side of 260.
I've seen random furniture and boxes in the road.
We get reports of mattresses, box springs, buckets, chairs, boxes, pallets,ladders, things of that nature on a daily basis around here. Recently I swung the bridge camera around on a dark colored object and realized that it was a recliner-just about the time we were getting the first 911 call on it.
Can't say I've taken any reports on refrigerators, though. My partner does remember a call about a washing machine that fell out the back of a pick up one day when she was on another shift.
We always wonder why there are so many shoes by the side of the road. Who takes off a shoe and "accidentally" drops it from the car?
We were hit by a flying mattress one time...moments after we were laughing about the mattress barely strapped to the roof of the car in front of us! lol
A month ago or so my carpool driver's car was overheating so we pulled over to the side of the road. On the other side of the guardrail was a pickup truck's large metal single lid tool box! It wasn't in great condition, and all it had inside though was rusty nails and some other worthless crap.
We saw a ladder in the I-95 HO/T lanes about two weeks ago. I tweeted it in ASAP, but I'm sure someone hit it in the meantime.
I once saw a whole stop sign with wooden post. It looked like someone had put it in the road intentionally. I would have hit it except I saw brake lights up ahead and I slowed–turned out the lights were from another car that had just hit it.
The radio traffic report once said traffic was snarled because people were getting flat tires from a box of nails that had fallen off a truck.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 08:13:59 AM
We saw a ladder in the I-95 HO/T lanes about two weeks ago. I tweeted it in ASAP, but I'm sure someone hit it in the meantime.
I believe that #77 in most of Maryland and Virginia may assure a faster response to freeway emergencies (and a ladder in a freeway lane is a definite emergency).
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 08:13:59 AM
The radio traffic report once said traffic was snarled because people were getting flat tires from a box of nails that had fallen off a truck.
Not debris, but there have been a series of nasty potholes on the bridges that carry I-95/I-495 over MD-450 (Annapolis Road) and the Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks just to the south in Prince George's County. A recent one providing several drivers with flat tires.
I know Maryland has a contractor working on the really deteriorated bridge decks over Suitland Road near Joint Base Andrews, and they have advertised a contract for deck replacement of the bridges over Suitland Parkway (also in bad shape), but there are several others in Prince George's County that badly need replacement or redecking, including the two I mentioned above.
But the bridges at MD-4 (Pennsylvania Avenue), Ritchie-Marlboro Road (unsigned MD-221A), Good Luck Road, MD-193 (Greenbelt Road), the bridge that crosses the CSX Capital Subdivision and the non-revenue Metro tracks leading to the Greenbelt Metrorail yard; and Rhode Island Avenue - plus three in Montgomery County; at Rock Creek (down the hill from the Mormon Temple); at Kensington Parkway and at MD-185 (Connecticut Avenue) all need deck replacements.
Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 29, 2018, 11:06:16 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 08:13:59 AM
We saw a ladder in the I-95 HO/T lanes about two weeks ago. I tweeted it in ASAP, but I'm sure someone hit it in the meantime.
I believe that #77 in most of Maryland and Virginia may assure a faster response to freeway emergencies (and a ladder in a freeway lane is a definite emergency).
Good point. At the time I couldn't remember what the number was. Thanks for the reminder.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 12:30:07 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 29, 2018, 11:06:16 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 08:13:59 AM
We saw a ladder in the I-95 HO/T lanes about two weeks ago. I tweeted it in ASAP, but I’m sure someone hit it in the meantime.
I believe that #77 in most of Maryland and Virginia may assure a faster response to freeway emergencies (and a ladder in a freeway lane is a definite emergency).
Good point. At the time I couldn’t remember what the number was. Thanks for the reminder.
The default is always 911 though. They will contact the proper agency or authority. (I think #77 may even connect you to the same dispatch team anyway).
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 12:30:07 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 29, 2018, 11:06:16 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 29, 2018, 08:13:59 AM
We saw a ladder in the I-95 HO/T lanes about two weeks ago. I tweeted it in ASAP, but I'm sure someone hit it in the meantime.
I believe that #77 in most of Maryland and Virginia may assure a faster response to freeway emergencies (and a ladder in a freeway lane is a definite emergency).
Good point. At the time I couldn't remember what the number was. Thanks for the reminder.
On MD-200 (all), I-895 (all) and on I-95 (and I-395)
in Baltimore City, call the MDTA Police dispatch center with stuff like this on 410-537-1230.
Best way to get help on any of the federal parkways is to call the U.S. Park Police dispatch center on 202-610-7505 (and I once found a ladder on the B-W Parkway in a travel lane and recently a broken-down pickup on the GWMP between Key Bridge and Spout Run (in traffic in the pitch dark rain with no lights).
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 29, 2018, 01:01:33 PM
The default is always 911 though. They will contact the proper agency or authority. (I think #77 may even connect you to the same dispatch team anyway).
In Maryland and Virginia, #77 gets you the appropriate State Police dispatcher. Even for an emergency, calling that number gets a fast response on roads that the state police usually patrol.
In a few places in Maryland (such as the WPL (Bay) Bridge), #77 goes to the MDTA Police Bay Bridge detachment.
In D.C., #77 is hard-wired in to D.C. 911.
Speaking of D.C. 911, I was working late one night years ago (during the final four year term of the then-Mayor-for-Life Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr.), and there was a horrendous
CRASH outside my office window. Looked up to see that a full-size Ford Bronco had t-boned a Toyota Tercel (learned later that the driver of the Bronco was extremely drunk and had busted a red signal). Called 911 and got
no answer!
Fortunately, the U.S. Capitol Police have concurrent jurisdiction on the streets near my office, so I called them, and they answered on less than a ring. I explained the situation, and they had several cars on the scene in a few minutes, and they also alerted D.C. Fire/EMS (they came quickly) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). It took the MPD over 20 minutes to respond.
Reason 8,000 why I still dislike the late former Mayor-for-Life.
When I lived in the DC area in the late 1990s, getting busy signals or no answer from 911 was a big news story.
Some time in the late '80s while traveling westbound on the PA Turnpike somewhere east of Pittsburgh on a hot summer's day, I saw on the side of the road just off the shoulder a dead cow so bloated it looked like an enormous puffer fish, with its legs spread straight out. The thing looked like it would explode if someone just looked at it the wrong way.
I have no idea how someone collected it without ka-BLOOOEY and being covered in decomp slime.
A few days ago, I was looking for a post of mine where I wrote about my 2010 New York Tri-State area road trip, and how after coming out of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel found myself in a traffic jam that was due to a wheelbarrow along the Harbor Tunnel Thruway below the Fait Avenue underpass. After failing to be able to make a 911 call due to a bad signal, I decided to take the thing out of the road myself. Once the commuters of Baltimore realized what I was doing, they let me cross both the northbound lanes so I could take the thing out of the road. I got some brief applause from the drivers, called the people responsible for the debris morons, and a reverse 911 call afterwards and explained what was going on to them.
Traffic report tonight said something about a chair in the roadway on I-95 in Virginia.
I have vague memories of my father running over a plastic wastebasket on the Harbor Tunnel Thruway (not I-895 then) sometime in the 1970s or very early 1980s.
I once ran over a large chain in the Midtown Tunnel in Norfolk.
One time I was looking up crash reports for unsecured loads. I came across crashes involving a washer, refrigerator, stove, couch, and a bed. A few days later one of my coworkers had to swerve around a dryer.
Just pick all that stuff up and you'll be able to build your own home! :spin:
Or, you know, secure your load. :)
This is exactly why I never tailgate people!
[BUMP]
Kind of funny, actually! There was a construction truck that (I guess) ran over a bump just a little too big, and a stack of traffic barrels came flying off the back. Thankfully, we weren't behind them, but another car was...
If I had known that anything that falls of a truck (and isn't collected in a timely manner) is fair game for collecting, I would have gone ham, as those were fairly nice-looking drums!
I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.
As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.
I once had a boss who told me a whole sheet of slate came off a truck in front of him one time and sailed over his car like a huge frisbee.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-06-la-me-then6-2009dec06-story.html
Here is a wacky example of debris. The Hollywood Freeway Chickens from 50 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Freeway_chickens
The story has become a legend around road geeks in Los Angeles though.
Quote from: bing101 on April 16, 2019, 07:21:09 PM
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-06-la-me-then6-2009dec06-story.html
Here is a wacky example of debris. The Hollywood Freeway Chickens from 50 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Freeway_chickens
The story has become a legend around road geeks in Los Angeles though.
Escaped wildlife is no big deal in other parts of the country. We had cows two years ago (https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/cattle-that-escaped-from-st-louis-slaughterhouse-are-headed-to/article_fde14374-866c-54da-a96a-c9363ba1cc31.html) when I still lived in St Louis.
Quote from: US 89 on April 16, 2019, 05:31:21 PM
I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.
As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.
In my old courier job back when I lived in Omaha, I had to make the trek to the Fremont NE airport for a delivery because the Omaha airport was fogged out. I was driving up US 275 (what's now the back road between Valley and Fremont) when the vehicle ahead of me lost the bikes that were attached to it. Fortunately, I was far enough behind to jam on the brakes and avoid the bikes. I don't know if the vehicle ever knew it lost its bikes.
Quote from: DandyDan on April 17, 2019, 04:31:21 AM
Quote from: US 89 on April 16, 2019, 05:31:21 PM
I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.
As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.
In my old courier job back when I lived in Omaha, I had to make the trek to the Fremont NE airport for a delivery because the Omaha airport was fogged out. I was driving up US 275 (what's now the back road between Valley and Fremont) when the vehicle ahead of me lost the bikes that were attached to it. Fortunately, I was far enough behind to jam on the brakes and avoid the bikes. I don't know if the vehicle ever knew it lost its bikes.
I was on a camping trip with some friends, and I guess we were fortunate. We had rented a car in the Chicago suburbs and bought a bicycle rack for our three bikes. Somewhere on I-70 in eastern Colorado on our way to Ouray, I woke up to the sound of my roommate pulling over onto the shoulder. One of the plastic straps holding the bikes on had cracked (first time we used it, too!) and they were tilted dangerously close to the pavement. We did the rest of the trip with the bikes duct-taped onto the rack, and that worked out perfectly.
The worst road debris I've ever had to dodge was empty pallets falling out of a semi trailer in city traffic on I-44 in Saint Louis. It was a double trailer rig, and the roll door on the rear trailer was open, with empty pallets standing on end at the rear of the trailer behind his cargo. Every minute or so, a new one would tip over and hit the Interstate, skidding this way and that across the lanes at 60 mph until it came to rest somewhere. It was like driving in a video game. Eventually, I was able to pull alongside the driver, motion for him to roll the window down, and shout to him "YOU'RE LOSING PALLETS!" Man, you should have seen his face darken when he figured out what I was shouting...
Quote from: kphoger on April 17, 2019, 11:42:58 AM
I was on a camping trip with some friends, and I guess we were fortunate. We had rented a car in the Chicago suburbs and bought a bicycle rack for our three bikes. Somewhere on I-70 in eastern Colorado on our way to Ouray, I woke up to the sound of my roommate pulling over onto the shoulder. One of the plastic straps holding the bikes on had cracked (first time we used it, too!) and they were tilted dangerously close to the pavement. We did the rest of the trip with the bikes duct-taped onto the rack, and that worked out perfectly.
Reminds me of an experience I had on a family trip several years back. We were driving west on I-80 in Wyoming on a windy day, with a bike rack with three or so bikes on the back -- something like this (https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/d8dc46ec-991b-483d-bc22-e17d8006ca25_1.de7b13b8986bef65f7c2f64deaa1e539.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF). We noticed the bikes were bouncing more than usual, but initially blamed that on the wind. After finally pulling over, we discovered we'd lost several of the rubber pieces used to secure the bikes, such that the bungee cord we'd thrown on at the last minute was the only thing keeping them from falling to the interstate. We did make it home, but only after buying an extra bungee cord at a truck stop in Evanston. Needless to say, that was the last time that bike rack was used.
Commuting in for Star Wars Celebration last weekend gave me a couple:
-Metal shingles on Elston just after the I-90/94 interchange
-Dog food bags on Fairbanks just north of Superior, the birds were having fun.
Most weird one since I started driving was hay-bails that got knocked off a semi on I-88 at the IL-56 Sugar Grove exit. Watched the whole thing unfold from the flyover ramp I was exiting on.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 29, 2018, 01:01:33 PM
The default is always 911 though. They will contact the proper agency or authority. (I think #77 may even connect you to the same dispatch team anyway).
#77 (or *77) was used before cellphone systems could connect directly into 911. This is why the *77 signs in Massachusetts (which have all since been converted to 911) included a tab reading 'CELLULAR'. As I understand it, while agencies can opt to still provide the #77 (*77) number, they cannot display the word 'Emergency' on the signs informing drivers of it.
Pretty much every ladder I own was picked up off the side of the road -- I got a 4', a couple 6', 8' and a nice heavy 12', and I think a 16' extension ladder. All in near new shape, I'm pretty sure the people losing them lose em all the time, they weren't old and beatup like the ones I used to have.
Most annoying was a truck full of 2x4s lost its load in front of me on the highway... blocked the whole thing, including the shoulders, I think we didn't move for like 6 hours until they cleared one lane for us to go around the debris.
Most common is definitely those foam polar pop cups from Kangaroo, I'm pretty sure you can see one of them on the ground from every point on every road in the area lol. Beer cans are a close second, from my understanding, those are entirely on purpose, as people feel if they have a beer can in their vehicle, they are: a) more likely to be suspected of DUI and b) at risk of violating open container laws so apparently even if its a passenger or whatnot, people nearly always throw them out the window. Oh, and cigarettes, every intersection has a pile of them on the road. They're small so they're hard to see. I'm pretty sure all cigarette smokers believe that they biodegrade within a day or 2.
Around here there are some almost-certainties regarding road debris:
1. It'll happen from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, when folks are actually moving quantities of their shit.
2. A working plurality -- probably a majority -- of the "lost" items are bedroom furniture, with the occasional sofa thrown in for good measure.
3. Most of it seems to occur on I-880 between downtown Oakland and Fremont, with US 101 in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area a distant second.
Quote from: sparker on April 21, 2019, 03:23:54 PM
Around here there are some almost-certainties regarding road debris:
1. It'll happen from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, when folks are actually moving quantities of their shit.
2. A working plurality -- probably a majority -- of the "lost" items are bedroom furniture, with the occasional sofa thrown in for good measure.
3. Most of it seems to occur on I-880 between downtown Oakland and Fremont, with US 101 in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area a distant second.
I-880 is the Bay Area's version of the I-710 Freeway because of Truck access to the ports though. Also Lots of Truck Accidents happen on I-880.
In Solano County I see Trash Bags on Freeways and dead animals most common on the side of freeways though on I-80, I-680, I-505, I-780.
A compilation for Seattle over the last four years or so: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/05/23/26479809/the-weird-shit-that-has-spilled-on-seattle-highways
The salmon truck on the viaduct (leading to total gridlock and an entirely new traffic management plan) was a favorite. Also today on I-90 (https://komonews.com/news/local/collision-involving-semi-blocks-eastbound-i-90), there was fertilizer with human feces.
Quote from: D-Dey65 on September 09, 2018, 12:17:41 AM
A few days ago, I was looking for a post of mine where I wrote about my 2010 New York Tri-State area road trip, and how after coming out of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel found myself in a traffic jam that was due to a wheelbarrow along the Harbor Tunnel Thruway below the Fait Avenue underpass. After failing to be able to make a 911 call due to a bad signal, I decided to take the thing out of the road myself. Once the commuters of Baltimore realized what I was doing, they let me cross both the northbound lanes so I could take the thing out of the road. I got some brief applause from the drivers, called the people responsible for the debris morons, and a reverse 911 call afterwards and explained what was going on to them.
I just found that post, and I almost thought I lost this thread:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=92.msg67919#msg67919
More recently (February 2019 actually), there was a convertible roof for a boat that was in my lane on the southbound Howard Frankland Bridge. I stopped to pick it up and get it out of the road, but another driver beat me to it. Unfortunately, as I was approaching the obstacle, my cell phone fell out of my case and hit the shoulder breaking the lens. Luckily, it still works.
There's currently a mattress on the inner shoulder on I-55 southbound, just south of the IL-126 exit. It's been there for a week. Way to go, IDOT
Quote from: inkyatari on August 09, 2019, 08:57:21 AM
There's currently a mattress on the inner shoulder on I-55 southbound, just south of the IL-126 exit. It's been there for a week. Way to go, IDOT
You could say they're sleeping on the job.............. :awesomeface: