Interstate 20 Alabama

[Alex]

I-20 speed limit between Oxford, Georgia to be lowered following death

HEFLIN, Ala. -- Alabama Transportation officials are lowering the speed limit on Interstate 20 from Oxford to the Georgia state line following the death of a South Carolina woman killed when she was hit by a rock kicked up from a pothole.

The speed limit will drop from 70 mph to 55 mph from mile marker 182 to the state line. Extra troopers will patrol the stretch. Jo Maureen Fisher of Goose Creek, S.C., died in a Birmingham hospital Tuesday, hours after a vehicle hit a pothole and threw a rock that passed through the windshield of the car Fisher was in and struck her in the head.

[agentsteel53]

since when is the TSA in charge of roads like this?

[Chris]

Yeah, because that's the answer to damaged roads... lowering the speed limit. NOT repairing the road.

[rawmustard]

A lot of people should challenge this. A freak death cannot by itself justify a change in the speed limit. If it were me, the first thing I'd ask for is the speed study which prompted the change.

[Hellfighter]

Yeah, stuff like that isn't uncommon here in Michigan. Note to Alabama, fix your roads!

[Bryant5493]

Really?! That's dumb. That's a long stretch with a low speed limit like that, and it's very rural there.


Be well,

Bryant

[codyg1985]

Really?! That's dumb. That's a long stretch with a low speed limit like that, and it's very rural there.

So rural in fact that it goes through the Talladega National Forest.

So I guess the answer is set up a speed trap until it raises enough money to fix the road, and then keep the speed trap there while not fixing the road. Brilliant! </sarcasm>

[froggie]

Given how undermanned the Alabama Highway Patrol is, I find the speed trap thought a bit funny...

[froggie]

The e-mail I just sent ALDOT:

ALDOT,

What is your justification for lowering the speed limit east of Oxford from 70 to 55?  Where is your speed study?

Lowering the speed limit after a death due NOT to speeding, but to a rock getting kicked up (which could just as easily happen at 45-55 as it could at 70) is ludicrous.  The solution isn't to lower the speed limit.  The solution is to fix the potholes.

R,

[74/171FAN]

And that's around 30 miles of a lower speed limit for something that happened at just one pothole.  Seriously Alabama is going the easy way out to save money during by sacrificing the safety of its citizens on the road.

[Bryant5493]

Alabama has a lot of rough pavement. It seems like they just pave on top of the old pavement, without milling it.

So rural in fact that it goes through the Talladega National Forest.

So I guess the answer is set up a speed trap until it raises enough money to fix the road, and then keep the speed trap there while not fixing the road. Brilliant! </sarcasm>

Indeed (lol).


Be well,

Bryant

[agentsteel53]

hmm, if we lower the speed limit by 15 mph per pothole, how many potholes do we need before the number wraps around and the new speed limit is nearly +32767 mph?

[allniter89]

So I guess the answer is set up a speed trap until it raises enough money to fix the road, and then keep the speed trap there while not fixing the road. Brilliant! </sarcasm>

Maybe sarcasm on your side Cody but likely a "game plan" for ALDOT.

[codyg1985]

Alabama has a lot of rough pavement. It seems like they just pave on top of the old pavement, without milling it.

Usually they do mill the pavement before resurfacing, but often times they use Open-Graded pavement for the surface course, which provides protection against water spray during rain, but the pavement doesn't last as long as traditional pavement. The sections of road that are still concrete haven't been completely revamped in decades, and those are the roads that are notorious for rough pavement (I-20 east of Anniston and I-59 northeast of Gadsden being prime examples).

Often Alabama will "rubblize" the existing concrete pavement, which means they pulverize the pavement so that the remaining material can act as new base material upon which new layers of asphalt are applied.

[sglaughlin]

We were thru there on Wednesday evening (the 17th) after the incident causing the issue occured on the 15th.  At that time, they had one of these flashing portable road signs recommending 55MPH in the area discussed.

[Grzrd]

I have not seen a recent posting on this topic. Has Alabama reinstituted the pre-55 mph speed limit(s) for this stretch of I-20?  It not, are there any construction upgrades going on?

[codyg1985]

ALDOT has a project in the upcoming September letting to widen I-20 to six lanes between just west of the Talladega/Calhoun County Line to east of the AL 21 interchange.

[The Premier]

A lot of people should challenge this. A freak death cannot by itself justify a change in the speed limit. If it were me, the first thing I'd ask for is the speed study which prompted the change.

Or, at the very least, repair it.