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Author Topic: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)  (Read 2263 times)

webny99

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Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« on: May 19, 2022, 11:49:03 PM »

I find unexpected traffic congestion - whether it be due to an accident, unexpected lane closure, or something else - to be a really interesting thing to study. I was thinking about this the other day when there was an accident on my commute and I ended up just driving around the area for a bit just to see what the impacts were on the area roadways. When an incident occurs on a main roadway, the "ripple effect" usually goes something like this:

1) incident occurs - traffic starts backing up
2) drivers start seeking alternate routes
3) further accidents may occur due to the "surprise" nature of the slowdown, rubbernecking etc.
4) alternate routes become congested
5) if sustained - alternates to the alternates also become congested
6) the incident clears up
7) traffic starts to clear up on the main roadway
8) traffic starts to clear up on the alternate routes

I also note Murphy's Law™: 7) will occur much faster and well before 8), such that if you approach the area of the incident at the wrong time and don't know whether 6) has occurred, you will be deceived into taking an alternate route and end up stuck in worse traffic on the alternate route even as traffic on the main roadway has started moving at speed again. I can think of a few times where this has happened which I will describe in more detail later - but for now I just wanted to put this topic out there for discussion and to share experiences of detouring around an unexpected traffic incident and the different ways in which drivers react and respond to these incidents.
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webny99

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2022, 10:19:57 AM »

1) on I-90 EB near Springfield, MA, July 2021 - traffic came to a complete stop near Exit 49, the MA 33 exit. I could tell from Google Maps that the incident was just before I-291, so I recommended we get off and try to get back on at I-291. Fuller Rd was a mess of traffic doing the same thing we were (as evidenced by the jughandle backing up under the Turnpike), so we kept going to MA 141. The line to turn left there was also extremely backed up despite a very long green arrow, but we finally got through after about 3 cycles. MA 141 moved along OK despite being in a long string of traffic. We then cut back across the Chicopee River to Fuller Rd and the on-ramp to I-291. Unfortunately, the entrance to I-291 was stop-sign controlled due to a lane closure/construction, so people were taking turns entering the lane and it took forever to get up to the Turnpike entrance. Finally, we got back on and traffic was heavy, but free-flowing with no sign of any incident.  Conclusion: we should have stayed on the Turnpike.

2) on US 30 EB near Wrightsville, PA, April 2022 - VMS'es outside York stated that US 30 was closed in Columbia due to an accident and to seek alternate routes. I could tell from Google Maps that traffic was backed up across the Susquehanna River bridge, so I planned to make sure we took the exit at Cool Springs Rd to PA 462 across the river. However I was pre-occupied and we missed the exit, coming to a complete stop just past said exit. We decided to U-turn here as a bunch of other traffic was doing the same thing. It took forever to find a gap in traffic the other way, which should have been a red flag that things were moving again. In any case, we made it back to PA 462 and after waiting in a long line to turn left, took the alternate through Wrightsville and across the river, looped around and missed the entrance to US 30 so we had to turn around and come back to the entrance from PA 441. By that time, US 30 was completely reopened with no signs of an incident. Traffic was extremely heavy from there to Lancaster so I knew we were at the tail end of the traffic clearing from the incident. Conclusion: we should have stayed on US 30.

3) on NY 104 near Webster, NY, May 2022 - heading EB on NY 104 traffic came to a complete stop just past Phillips Rd. Traffic was crawling at between 0-5 mph for a 1/2 mile or so. Eventually traffic started whizzing by on the shoulder to bail via Salt Rd, so I decided to do the same, found a gap, and rode on the shoulder right up until the Salt Rd exit. But then I noticed the line to turn right onto Salt was extremely backed up, while traffic was clearing up ahead on NY 104 and the cars next to me were starting to keep pace. I kept moving but slowed enough to find a gap, merged back in to the main lane, and moved along at 25-30 mph or so to Basket Rd where there was still an emergency vehicle but the incident had completely cleared. Conclusion: I made the right choice by staying on NY 104.
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hbelkins

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2022, 01:05:53 PM »

My biggest adventure in detouring came when trying to get from Elmira to Albany by way of Binghamton when there was gobs of flooding several years ago. I was able to finally get to I-81 to go south to Binghamton -- only to find I-88 closed in two spots with a detour marked for only one of the closures. Got delayed by at least two hours and when I finally got to Plattsburgh, it was getting dark and I missed most of the scenic drive over to Watertown because I couldn't see the scenery.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2022, 01:34:46 PM »

One my more infamous detour routes is using San Francisquito Canyon Road to get around problems on the Ridge Route/Grapevine corridor of I-5.  Most people swing all the way out to CA 14 and CA 58 because they are following what an app or GPS tells them.  Usually getting back to I-5 from San Francisquito Canyon Road requires using some pretty interesting roads either in the Mojave or on the San Andreas Fault like Los Angeles County Route N2. 
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kphoger

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2022, 02:07:48 PM »

1.  A wreck on southbound I-55 in Springfield, IL, had traffic at a standstill.  This was before the smartphone days, in the early naughties.  I had a handheld CB radio back then (that took 28 AA batteries!), and I had it with us in the car.  We heard a couple of truckers recommending a route through town, so we decided to take their advice.  The problem is that so did half the other truckers, so we ended up stuck crawling through city traffic with a bunch of trucks.

2.  An overturned truck had the entire northbound roadway of I-35W in Fort Worth blocked.  The day before, our travel companion's pickup had a front wheel bearing break in the summer heat of the Mexican desert, and–after an adventure that involved hitchhikers, a mechanic who couldn't vocalize due to a tracheotomy, and a bit of good luck–we had therefore finally gotten in to the motel at 1 am.  I was in no mood for any more delays.  So we turned around (an exit was fortunately at hand), and I took an alternate route through Fort Worth.  On my alternate routes, some were under construction, some had wrecks of their own, and I was ready to punch a baby in the face or strangle a kitten by the time we finally got out of Fort Worth.  I then swore to never drive through Dallas—Fort Worth ever again–a vow I managed to keep for the next seven years.
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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2022, 03:21:22 PM »

Any major accident on I-480 would cause pretty big problems for me when I lived near Cleveland as I had a 45 mile commute. Taking surface streets would mean very slow going and taking I-271 down to the Turnpike meant going well out of my way. Often if I saw there was an accident causing major delays I'd just stay later at the office until traffic cleared and then leave early that Friday.
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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2022, 12:40:40 PM »

In 2004, there was a major accident and subsequent truck fire that caused a complete, all-day shutdown of I-80/94 in Gary (near Grant Street, if I’m not mistaken). To set the scene, this was before the expressway was expanded to four lanes. As a matter of fact, the first round of expansion reconstruction was fully underway in the Hammond area.

I lived on US 20 in the Miller area at the time. With the Borman completely crippled, the Toll Road was jammed up significantly (this road had yet to expand as well, work was still a year away). That left US 12 and 20, and I could see the effects of the expressway fire right outside my window. Westbound US 20 was at a near standstill, and it spilled over onto US 12 right behind my house. Obviously, I-65 was pinched because of this accident too.

I wanted to go to Merrillville that day, so I had to wait for westbound traffic to let me in, then I cut through business parking lots to get to US 12 east (US 12 and 20 were that close to each other at that time). Long story short, I had to head east to Indiana 51 to have any level of moving traffic then used Ridge Road to get to I-65. To get back home, I was able to get to I-80/94, but remembering that I had to cut through westbound traffic to get into my driveway, I had to take I-80/94 east to Central Avenue, then used 15th Avenue and Lake Street to go back to US 20, take advantage of the gap in traffic because of a traffic light, then clamber my way back home.

Funnily enough, not counting the local streets, this was the designated detour for traffic looking to travel on I-65 when that highway was shut down for construction in 2008.
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thenetwork

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2022, 01:17:57 PM »

My biggest detour headache was when we were on vacation, and we drove back to where we grew up in Cleveland, OH.  It was I believe a Friday in mid June of 2016, and a nasty mid-morning accident on the East Shoreway/I-90/SR-2 had closed the entire eastbound lanes thru Bratenahl from about 10am until way past afternoon rush hour. And we had to drive from downtown Cleveland to Mentor.

As far as freeway alternatives, only I-480 between I-77 and I-271 was the only freeway detour.  But since that stretch of I-480 is the most jam-packed on a normal rush hour, you already knew that road was going to be complete gridlock.

So all you had left were the surface streets:  Lakeshore Blvd/St. Clair/Superior/Chester/Euclid and Carnegie Avenues.  Traffic was so thick on these roads, you were barely moving there, more so thanks to an overabundance of mistimed traffic signals and a funneling of said roads into University Circle.

Still having some knowledge of the area, we wound up driving down a lot of residential streets in the not so great parts of town including a stretch of roadway in East Cleveland that was so loaded with deep potholes, we would be driving anywhere from the correct side of the street to the left side of the street even onto the SIDEWALKS on the other side of the street to avoid the impassible potholes.  Later we found out that this street was originally condemned and closed to traffic, but people tore down the barricades either that day or prior and the bankrupt city of East Cleveland couldn't replace them fast enough.

We survived, and were not too late in finally getting to dinner with friends in Lake County.  But it's amazing to see how one closure in a critical spot on just one thoroughfare can cripple an entire area.  Even my wife said she had better commutes through this same area during the worst of winter storms when she lived there.

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CoreySamson

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2022, 05:58:23 PM »

Here’s a funny detour story. One time me, my dad, and one of his friends decided to go to an Astros game one evening around 2016 or so (I think he had free tickets or something like that), and that night it was raining a lot in Houston. We were hydroplaning on SH 288 and the rain kept coming down, so we thought that the route we planned on taking would flood because it was in a trench (I-69/US 59 in downtown). So we decided to take an alternate route down some city streets in Houston that my dad liked taking instead. Lo and behold, at the end of the exit ramp we come across a couple flooded intersections in Midtown where the water was about a foot deep or more. We reluctantly ended up driving through it and navigated back to I-69 (which had not flooded after all!), not getting into the game until the 4th inning. And no, this wasn’t some huge flood event. We just happened to detour into what seemed like the one flooded area in the entire city. It still gives me chuckles to this day.
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webny99

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2022, 08:20:46 AM »

Still having some knowledge of the area, we wound up driving down a lot of residential streets in the not so great parts of town including a stretch of roadway in East Cleveland that was so loaded with deep potholes, we would be driving anywhere from the correct side of the street to the left side of the street even onto the SIDEWALKS on the other side of the street to avoid the impassible potholes.  Later we found out that this street was originally condemned and closed to traffic, but people tore down the barricades either that day or prior and the bankrupt city of East Cleveland couldn't replace them fast enough.

We survived, and were not too late in finally getting to dinner with friends in Lake County.  But it's amazing to see how one closure in a critical spot on just one thoroughfare can cripple an entire area.  Even my wife said she had better commutes through this same area during the worst of winter storms when she lived there.

Wow!! Just out of curiosity whereabouts was the street with the impassable potholes?

(And certainly agreed on your last point - that is pretty much what I had in mind with this thread!)
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webny99

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2022, 08:22:17 AM »

We reluctantly ended up driving through it and navigated back to I-69 (which had not flooded after all!), not getting into the game until the 4th inning. And no, this wasn’t some huge flood event. We just happened to detour into what seemed like the one flooded area in the entire city. It still gives me chuckles to this day.

I guess flooding is probably more common in the Houston area than it is around here, but I think that would scare me too much to be able to laugh about it!
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thenetwork

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2022, 10:31:35 PM »

Still having some knowledge of the area, we wound up driving down a lot of residential streets in the not so great parts of town including a stretch of roadway in East Cleveland that was so loaded with deep potholes, we would be driving anywhere from the correct side of the street to the left side of the street even onto the SIDEWALKS on the other side of the street to avoid the impassible potholes.  Later we found out that this street was originally condemned and closed to traffic, but people tore down the barricades either that day or prior and the bankrupt city of East Cleveland couldn't replace them fast enough.

We survived, and were not too late in finally getting to dinner with friends in Lake County.  But it's amazing to see how one closure in a critical spot on just one thoroughfare can cripple an entire area.  Even my wife said she had better commutes through this same area during the worst of winter storms when she lived there.

Wow!! Just out of curiosity whereabouts was the street with the impassable potholes?

(And certainly agreed on your last point - that is pretty much what I had in mind with this thread!)

Terrace Road...2017:

https://www.clevescene.com/news/is-this-the-worst-road-in-the-cleveland-area-8280153

....and in more recent times (first few minutes of video):
« Last Edit: May 23, 2022, 11:30:42 PM by thenetwork »
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DandyDan

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2022, 06:44:19 AM »

The worst detour I ever did was when I was going from Bloomington/Normal to Macomb on US 136. I was following a semi going west towards Havana when it hit a tractor with 2 men on it. They died, one right there and the other on the way to the Peoria hospital. I backtracked to IL 10, took a county road west to IL 97, then north back to US 136. I got called up to testify, via phone, and there were more lawyers than people involved in the accident.
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webny99

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2022, 10:23:53 AM »

The worst detour I ever did was when I was going from Bloomington/Normal to Macomb on US 136. I was following a semi going west towards Havana when it hit a tractor with 2 men on it. They died, one right there and the other on the way to the Peoria hospital. I backtracked to IL 10, took a county road west to IL 97, then north back to US 136. I got called up to testify, via phone, and there were more lawyers than people involved in the accident.

Yikes! That's scary! I think I'd have nightmares if I watched something like that happen knowing that people died. 

I watched an accident happen once, when a car turning left misjudged the lane configuration and plowed right into a car in the left turn lane. I was first in line at the red light across the intersection and watched the whole thing happen. It was really bizarre, but fortunately it was low-speed and I don't think anyone was hurt.
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kphoger

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2022, 10:27:38 AM »

I've witnessed a few accidents happen on the highway, but I don't think any of them prompted a detour.
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webny99

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #15 on: May 25, 2022, 10:45:22 AM »

I've witnessed a few accidents happen on the highway, but I don't think any of them prompted a detour.

Even if they had, it probably would have been well after you left the scene (unless you stayed as a witness).
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kphoger

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #16 on: May 25, 2022, 10:53:50 AM »


I've witnessed a few accidents happen on the highway, but I don't think any of them prompted a detour.

Even if they had, it probably would have been well after you left the scene (unless you stayed as a witness).

I've stayed as a witness a few times–one time, especially, I was the only one who saw it happen, and it involved a trucker but wasn't his fault, so I called highway patrol and filled out a written report.  Even when I haven't stayed as a witness, I've at least checked on the driver and called the police before leaving.
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Dirt Roads

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #17 on: May 25, 2022, 11:24:25 AM »

I've witnessed a few accidents happen on the highway, but I don't think any of them prompted a detour.

Even if they had, it probably would have been well after you left the scene (unless you stayed as a witness).

I've stayed as a witness a few times–one time, especially, I was the only one who saw it happen, and it involved a trucker but wasn't his fault, so I called highway patrol and filled out a written report.  Even when I haven't stayed as a witness, I've at least checked on the driver and called the police before leaving.

Posted this one before, but I was driving right behind a tractor-trailer that rolled over going around the Pax toll booth while it was nearing completion on the West Virginia Turnpike (I-77/I-64) back in 1981.  In the early right-hand part of the first S-curve, the trailer climbed the Jersey barrier and rolled the opposite direction in a complete 360 degrees and landed back upright.  That caused the cab to flip upside down.  As soon as the tractor-trailer came to a stop, I passed it and pulled over in front and ran back to help out the trucker.  He asked if I could help him get out of his seatbelt, and unwittingly, I reached up and popped it open.  He came straight down and hit his head hard.  That was the only injury.  He said that he would be just fine, shook my hand and sent us on our way.  Cars could certainly get around him, but I doubt that any other truckers could.  This would have caused quite a detour back in those days since Mossy Road was not yet a suitable route (even today, most of the detour routes for the West Virginia Turnpike are brutally long).
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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #18 on: May 25, 2022, 06:36:43 PM »

There was a shutdown in I-10 around the I-10/I-12 split in Baton Rouge. The GPS sent me around circles for around an hour then finally put me back on I-10 at the same exit it had me exit at an hour before.

My greatest GPS story, however, is my very first. We were going from San Francisco to Oakhurst (the south portal to Yosemite National Park.) We had mapped the trip to go to Merced on SR-99 and across to Oakhurst via Mariposa (SR-140 & SR49).

We missed SR-140.  At this point we went to the GPS.  The first road was paved and striped. Then it was just paved . Then it was just rock. Then it became a track. We went through a cattle guard and had to shoo cows out of the road. Finally it turned back into a maintained sand / clay dirt road. The GPS kept us going...
Then there was no GPS signal. There were home made signs with arrows. Then at a tee intersection, there was nothing. We guessed! About a mile and a half later we wound up on a paved road just outside of Raymond California.  Probably we left SR-99 at LeGrand Road. We Probably left LeGrand on White Rock Road.  I am sure we came into Raymond on RD613. While the maps say it isn't a through road, I am relatively sure we got to 613 on Digger Pine Road. The distance and the street view look right.

It was over 3 hours. We were starting to worry about gas, but it was all good. We had around a 1/4 of a tank when we got to Ralph's in Oakhurst.  We saw some really neat land on our trek. Being from a small cow calf ranch in Texas, it was really neat.  Looking back, it was probably walking / hiking directions.

The B&B in Oakhurst however was TERRIBLE! Yosemite was great.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2022, 06:41:19 PM by bwana39 »
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #19 on: May 25, 2022, 06:52:54 PM »

There was a shutdown in I-10 around the I-10/I-12 split in Baton Rouge. The GPS sent me around circles for around an hour then finally put me back on I-10 at the same exit it had me exit at an hour before.

My greatest GPS story, however, is my very first. We were going from San Francisco to Oakhurst (the south portal to Yosemite National Park.) We had mapped the trip to go to Merced on SR-99 and across to Oakhurst via Mariposa (SR-140 & SR49).

We missed SR-140.  At this point we went to the GPS.  The first road was paved and striped. Then it was just paved . Then it was just rock. Then it became a track. We went through a cattle guard and had to shoo cows out of the road. Finally it turned back into a maintained sand / clay dirt road. The GPS kept us going...
Then there was no GPS signal. There were home made signs with arrows. Then at a tee intersection, there was nothing. We guessed! About a mile and a half later we wound up on a paved road just outside of Raymond California.  Probably we left SR-99 at LeGrand Road. We Probably left LeGrand on White Rock Road.  I am sure we came into Raymond on RD613. While the maps say it isn't a through road, I am relatively sure we got to 613 on Digger Pine Road. The distance and the street view look right.

It was over 3 hours. We were starting to worry about gas, but it was all good. We had around a 1/4 of a tank when we got to Ralph's in Oakhurst.  We saw some really neat land on our trek. Being from a small cow calf ranch in Texas, it was really neat.  Looking back, it was probably walking / hiking directions.

The B&B in Oakhurst however was TERRIBLE! Yosemite was great.

Road 613 you say?  Now that’s a name I haven’t of in a long time…a long time.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/06/ghost-town-tuesday-ben-hur-roadroad-613.html?m=1

Basically you were my driving recreational back yard there in Mariposa County. From what you describe I think you ended up on White Rock Road and took Beach Road to Ben Hur Road/Road 613.  White Rock is really interesting, it looks bad but it will get you through to Mariposa in dry weather just fine.  Just hope there isn’t oncoming traffic out in those ranches. 
« Last Edit: May 25, 2022, 06:57:18 PM by Max Rockatansky »
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CoreySamson

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Re: Adventures in Detouring (Accident, Construction, etc.)
« Reply #20 on: May 26, 2022, 06:46:59 PM »

We reluctantly ended up driving through it and navigated back to I-69 (which had not flooded after all!), not getting into the game until the 4th inning. And no, this wasn’t some huge flood event. We just happened to detour into what seemed like the one flooded area in the entire city. It still gives me chuckles to this day.

I guess flooding is probably more common in the Houston area than it is around here, but I think that would scare me too much to be able to laugh about it!
Well, the water wasn't really flowing all that much, so the water sweeping our car away wasn't a concern. Houston is just so flat that flooding happens because the water has no where to go and just ponds, as opposed to most of the nation where the water flows pretty quickly into the flood-prone areas (and hence, can carry cars or larger things with it). The biggest concern we had, however, was that we thought the water would get into our vehicle's engine or some other vital mechanical part. Luckily it didn't.
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Buc-ee's and QuikTrip fanboy. Clincher of FM roads. Proponent of the TX U-turn.

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