Interstates everywhere are littered with shredded tires and the occasional roadkill. Some interstates have more interesting debris, such as toys, 2 by 4s, or bags full of trash. My question is, what is the most unusual bit of highway trash or debris you have ever seen on an interstate highway?
For me, it would have to be a tie between a box of unassembled furniture and rolls of toilet paper. With the furniture, I was coming home from the Ikea store in Charlotte, NC, and merging onto I-85 when I had to swerve to dodge a box of furniture that had some of its components strewn over the road. I immediately realized that someone who had bought a shelf or dresser from Ikea failed to secure it properly in their truck or car or SUV and it unfortunately fell out onto the road in the lanes of traffic.
The toilet paper thing was totally random. It wasn't just one roll of TP, but rather at least 20 rolls that were unraveled all over the travel lanes and intertwined with the barrier in the median. It almost looked like some sort of college prank.
Hmmmm, now that I think about it, I also saw a leather sofa on the side of the interstate a few months ago too. No idea how that ended up there.
Any unusual garbage/debris finds in your interstate driving experiences?
A loveseat sofa in the middle of a travel lane, twice (once in 2007 and once earlier this year) on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area.
I once saw a full drum set sitting on the shoulder of the 22 freeway. Nice one too. Either somebody left it behind, or there was about to be an impromptu concert on the freeway I was unaware of. :-P
Weirdest one: A truck hauling cans of Budweiser overturned on the old left-side ramp from the Inner Loop of I-495 to westbound I-66 on July 31, 2008. The cans of beer spilled all over the hill on either side of the overpass, many of them burst open, and the area absolutely stunk of stale, skunked cheap beer by the time we passed through a few hours later. Damndest thing seeing all those beer cans all over the place, but it's the smell I remember the most. We've all smelled stale or skunked beer any number of times, of course, but think about the smell of a whole truck full of beer when the beer is exposed to the hot summer sun for several hours. (The reason I recall the date is that I remember we were driving home from Portland, Maine, the day this happened, and that means it had to be July 31, 2008, the last day of our trip to Nova Scotia via the ferry that ran between Portland and Yarmouth. Almost home and we encounter the slow traffic followed by the stench of the stale beer!)
I thankfully did not actually see this myself, but as I drove by I saw the backup it caused: A box full of nails fell off a truck on a cloverleaf loop-around ramp leading from US-50 to I-495 in Virginia. The box smashed open when it hit the road and the results were quite predictable. (Not the same day as the beer incident.)
I remember my father somehow running over a wastebasket on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway (the road now posted as I-895) when I was a little kid.
I've called 911 for road hazards twice. once was in the middle of the night, a car parked, lights off, in the #1 travel lane on I-680, just around a bend. I had to swerve hard to avoid it.
the other time? on CA-152, just before the top of the pass heading westbound, there was some kind of large industrial equipment. I described it to the operator as "about the size of three large refrigerators lying down side by side". no idea what it was, but it would have been a terrible collision if someone hit it. luckily it was in the daytime and there was good visibility, so everyone was going around it.
I once dragged a washing machine off the center stripe on two-lane CA-111. that one I could take care of with a friend and there was no need to call for the professionals.
agentsteel53's comment prompted me to think of another: A stop sign assembly lying in the road very late at night one night. I was coming back from a football trip to Charlottesville in 1999 or 2000 and I was almost home when I crested a hill and I thought something didn't look right up ahead. I slowed down, pulled over, and put my flashers on....and some guy behind me came flying over the hill, sailed ahead, and smashed into what I had seen (massive loud bang....I don't recall hearing brakes screeching, either). It was a full assembly, wooden pole with stop sign and standard rectangular VDOT route number signs. The guy fucked up his car pretty badly and I almost pissed myself with relief that I'd been going slower and spotted it. There but for the grace of God..... We removed the sign from the road and I headed on my way after giving him my contact information in case his insurance wanted a witness. Never heard anything else about it.
I have to think some kids knocked that sign down and put it there on purpose. It was too far from the nearest corner to have landed in the middle of the road by accident. The nearby intersection is a T that did not (still does not) have an all-way stop. I've always assumed some kids were playing mailbox baseball and got "lucky" that this whole assembly fell over and that the little pricks then decided to do something really nasty.
Edited to add: Obviously this was not on the Interstate, but I don't think that matters.
Not on an interstate (haven't seen anything too weird on the interstates here), but there is a couch that's starting to decay off to the right hand side of the south-bound lanes of US 231 once you get across the Tennessee River but before you enter Lacey's Springs.
I've seen more than a few ladders in the roadway.
A box, marked "This Side Up" with the arrow pointing down to the pavement.
My mom and sister drove through offal from a leaking truck from a packing house.
They could see stuff in the road, but failed to realize quickly it was viscera.
Yes, the tires kicked quite a bit of up into the undercarriage of their car.
:-o
the horror, the horror . . .
I once saw a dining room table, right side up, in the middle lane of Independence Blvd in Charlotte.
When I lived in Atlanta someone told me you could decorate a house by taking a lap around 285. Can't say I disagree with that.
Quote from: 6a on August 15, 2014, 06:25:47 PM
When I lived in Atlanta someone told me you could decorate a house by taking a lap around 285.
I remember KYW in Philadelphia did a radio promo titled something like "Extreme Makeover: Expressway Edition" which was a compilation of some of the household and home improvement stuff they had actually reported being in the road during traffic updates–like a couch, a load of plywood, a desk, paint cans, kitchen cabinets...
I've come upon the occasional cattle truck or horse trailer mishap. I've heard a few bad stories, but am lucky to have only seen the funny ones: the (not visibly injured) cows just wandering aimlessly on I-20 or the horses that, once loose, took themselves to the median or or the pasture alongside the road.
FedEx boxes from a double trailer.
Tires in the road are pretty commonplace, of course, but on my way home a few weeks ago I saw one merrily bouncing down the middle of the southbound carriageway of I-285, high enough into the air for me to be able to see it traveling northbound.
For a while in the 90s on the ramp from the Washington Bridge to I-95 going toward the George Washington Bridge, there was, off to the right side under the overpass, a stove.
It just sort of decayed there for a while. There was a van bench seat, too.
If you spent much time around there during a period of about twenty years leading up to that, you saw a lot of debris on the road all the time. When things were at their worst, the cleaners-that-be couldn't even keep up with the abandoned cars, much less the odds and ends.
I've dodged tires, furniture, trash cans, PVC pipe flying off a truck at me, and recently two guys frantically trying to get a giant professional grade outdoor grill out of a travel lane on the Garden State Parkway and over a guiderail (no shoulder). A number of years ago on US-22 (former I-78) north of Allentown, PA I passed a car in the opposing left lane late at night right on the other side of the concrete barrier sitting on its roof (but otherwise perfectly aligned in the lane as if it decided to park there, lights off - upside down). Also had to stop to avoid hitting a peacock once (probably an escapee from the Popcorn Park Zoo, which was a few miles away).
Not unusual, but it is perplexing. I'm always amazed at the number of shoes seen along the roadways. How do you manage to take off your shoe and toss it out the window? :confused:
As an Adopt-A-Highway volunteer since 1998, I've seen many things. The oddest was either the dead dog in a bag or the empty vial of medical marijuana on I-5 in Grapevine Canyon.
Quote from: GaryV on August 16, 2014, 07:36:20 PM
Not unusual, but it is perplexing. I'm always amazed at the number of shoes seen along the roadways. How do you manage to take off your shoe and toss it out the window? :confused:
My guess is that some people like to stick their feet up on the dashboard and the wind catches their sandal or something and blows it out. But I really have no idea.
Does a drunk girl passed out in middle of the road count?
Oh, the Nashville thread reminded me of one. Driving home to NC after my fathers funeral was the great Nashville flood. I hit 24 just in time to see the school floating down the highway...
Driving home from Phoenix with my uncle over 4th of July weekend and we passed by tomatoes on I-5 north in the Central Valley spilled by a truck obviously, carrying tomatoes. Surprisingly, all of the tomatoes were on the right shoulder and none seemed to go past the rumble strip.
It was also very slow stop-and-go traffic on I-5 there, predictable on holiday weekends. (It was my first time experiencing this kinda traffic on this part of I-5, by the way)
A traffic cone with a black base laying on its side in the middle of a travel lane. It was at night; making the black base difficult to see. It also didn't help that I was sneezing just prior to encountering it. I opened my eyes from sneezing and had a split second to slam on the brakes and jerk the car into the left lane to avoid it. Fortunately it was late at night and I was the only car around. Still, I must have missed that cone by inches.
One time when I was driving to Des Moines from Omaha on I-80, I saw a mangled bicycle, which must have been poorly secured to a pickup and just fell out. That's not the only mangled bicycle story I have, because I was driving up to Fremont on US 275 for my old courier job (before the current freeway was built) and saw a pickup truck lose a bike and it hit the car right in front of me. I wouldn't have wanted that to come flying at me.
Quote from: andrewkbrown on August 15, 2014, 04:51:05 PM
A box, marked "This Side Up" with the arrow pointing down to the pavement.
I'll see a box inverted and raise a flatbed full of them. :P
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/206238_10100491282248368_5015609_n.jpg?oh=cf5b18636d51c2d2111c98d70d61878e&oe=5473F3AB&__gda__=1417121042_d50a504695c79be25069a99422148f86) (https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/202098_10100491282248368_5015609_o.jpg)
Personally witnessed on I-71 back in 2007. All the boxes were like that.
As far as things on the road, I once had to go around a moving box on I-70 in Indiana; a few miles up the road I saw the pickup that lost it, clearly overloaded/overstacked with matching boxes not tied down enough. I managed to find a Marks-A-Lot and a McDonald's napkin and wrote "YOU LOST A BOX" on the unfolded napkin, and held it to the passenger window as I got alongside them and made sure they saw it. The driver and passenger saw it and just shrugged. Made me wonder if they just didn't care at all or if they intentionally lost the box.
Once about 10 years ago I passed several people trying to get what was left of a dinette set out of the two leftmost lanes of the Everett Turnpike just into NH. Being dark, it was somewhat dangerous.
I saw an alligator carcass in the breakdown lane of westbound I-20 between the Tallulah and Mound exits (171 & 182).
I found a record player on the shoulder of Thomas Road in Lynchburg, VA in March 2009. It was in two pieces (the lid and the rest of the player) and it looked like it fell out of a truck. I took it home, then to the local record store to see if he could check it out. He referred me to a guy who referred me to a guy to fix it up. Twenty five dollars later, it works perfectly today.
iPhone
I had a metal shelving frame instantly appear in my travel lane on NBD US-127 around the east side of Jackson, MI at 1am as I was crossing the overpass at Michigan Ave. I swerved to avoid the assembly, but my back end came around and hit the gravel shoulder. I steered left to counteract the oversteer, and ended up putting it in the median, running over a culvert, causing me to blow my tire.
There was traffic coming up on it behind me later that swerved to avoid it; one hit it and knocked it out of the roadway. That made explaining what happened to the State Police more interesting, when they found me changing the tire on the right-shoulder and couldn't find the shelving I said was there.
My all-time favorite is the couch in the middle express lane of I-96 eastbound near the Southfield Freeway in Detroit in the mid-00's. The car ahead of me did a dramatic brake-and-swerve, but I did not see the couch until it was too late. Fortunately, I ended up just brushing the corner of the couch and got a few minor scratches on my car. Along with a Christmas shopping story for the ages.
I-55 around here is a veritable obstacle course some days. I have seen the following there:
Chairs (including a pair that sat by MP 267 for about 3 weeks)
Couches
Pallets
Lumber
Plywood
Coolers
Mattresses
Box Springs
Mufflers
Drive Shafts
Hoods (yes, there's a hood on the left shoulder currently by MP 268)
Tires (not just shreds, but whole fucking tires)
Hubcaps
Appliances (up to and including stoves and refrigerators)
That's not even including the overturned trucks, like the potato truck that overturned in the median back in 2006 or so (before the third lane was added).
Quote from: Eth on August 15, 2014, 08:01:36 PM
Tires in the road are pretty commonplace, of course, but on my way home a few weeks ago I saw one merrily bouncing down the middle of the southbound carriageway of I-285, high enough into the air for me to be able to see it traveling northbound.
One of those actually impacted itself into a windshield of a Nissan Versa a few weeks ago on the Bishop Ford Freeway (I-94) near 130th or so and killed the driver.
Quote from: Zzonkmiles on August 16, 2014, 11:28:27 PM
Quote from: GaryV on August 16, 2014, 07:36:20 PM
Not unusual, but it is perplexing. I'm always amazed at the number of shoes seen along the roadways. How do you manage to take off your shoe and toss it out the window? :confused:
My guess is that some people like to stick their feet up on the dashboard and the wind catches their sandal or something and blows it out. But I really have no idea.
My guess is that a kid (or immature adult) is taking out some anger on another passenger in the car by chucking his or her shoe out the window. If it was a smelly old sneaker, Mom or Dad may not have bothered going back.
Quote from: sdmichael on August 16, 2014, 10:37:21 PM
As an Adopt-A-Highway volunteer since 1998, I've seen many things. The oddest was either the dead dog in a bag or the empty vial of medical marijuana on I-5 in Grapevine Canyon.
I dunno, I posit dead raven in a plastic bag as being more unusual. who would have been in a position to dispose of a
raven???
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 18, 2014, 01:34:38 PM
Quote from: sdmichael on August 16, 2014, 10:37:21 PM
As an Adopt-A-Highway volunteer since 1998, I've seen many things. The oddest was either the dead dog in a bag or the empty vial of medical marijuana on I-5 in Grapevine Canyon.
I dunno, I posit dead raven in a plastic bag as being more unusual. who would have been in a position to dispose of a raven???
Don't know, but it will nevermore be a raven.
Quote from: signalman on August 17, 2014, 02:30:09 AM
A traffic cone with a black base laying on its side in the middle of a travel lane. It was at night; making the black base difficult to see. It also didn't help that I was sneezing just prior to encountering it. I opened my eyes from sneezing and had a split second to slam on the brakes and jerk the car into the left lane to avoid it. Fortunately it was late at night and I was the only car around. Still, I must have missed that cone by inches.
once, in the middle of the night somewhere in Atlanta, I had just passed a speed limit 35 sign and was heading forward, when I needed to slam the brakes because I had seen ... something. I came to a stop inches from a pile of concrete rubble, covered in a black tarp.
Used to do incident response dispatch for MTO in the Toronto area, so lots of stuff. Some memorable ones-
- Couch (which the owners came back and dragged all the way across the QEW, dodging traffic as they went)
- shelves from a bookcase - went airborne and sailed off the back of a truck
- bales of hay
- ladder (that subsequently was run over by a transport and cut its brake line)
- ramp blocked by a pile of sand that fell from a dump truck
- ducks (lots wander out into the highway)
- many, many cars
- washer-dryer combination (which the owner went back into the QEW to get - and it did not go well (http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/five-people-injured-in-qew-multi-vehicle-collision-1.710840))
- human body (had a jumper on the QEW - was unfortunate enough to watch the whole thing unfold in front of me)
Quote from: briantroutman on August 15, 2014, 06:35:36 PMI remember KYW in Philadelphia did a radio promo titled something like "Extreme Makeover: Expressway Edition" which was a compilation of some of the household and home improvement stuff they had actually reported being in the road during traffic updates–like a couch, a load of plywood, a desk, paint cans, kitchen cabinets...
A few years ago, one mock-picture in the
Philadelphia Inquirer had a
ROADSIDE POTLUCK caption that listed the various food truck accidents/overturns within a 2-month period; one of them being an overturned truck along I-95 near PA 611 carrying hams... some of which fell onto the approach ramps to/from Broad St. underneath.
Back in the mid-70s, there were 2 accidents along MA 128 near MA 114 in Peabody involving cargo spilling out of overturned trucks onto the highway: the first one involved fish-meal, the second one involved lumber roughly 2 days later. The front page of the
Salem Evening News following the 2nd crash had the headline that read
First Fish; Now Sticks. I know, the above-example's not an Interstate; but still an interesting tid-bit (IMHO).
Prior to the last piece of I-95 in Peabody being fully built and open to traffic in 1988; there was tons of debris (including furniture and bed matresses) all over the then-dirt roadbed (that was originally placed circa 1972) by/underneath the Forest St. overpass. The area looked like a junkyard.
One time back in the mid-80s, while driving along I-95/MA 128 in Burlington; a truck in front of me carrying haybales dropped one right on the road. Fortunately, I was far enough away to swerve away from it (the haybale). As far as I know, the truck kept on going.
I have a theory about the shoes. I've seen enough front seat passengers with their feet hanging out the window as the vehicle is driving along for that to be the source of some of those shoes. Assuming they are untied or loose-fitting or flip-flops, I can envision one coming off in the 70 mph 'wind' outside the vehicle.
Most of the debris that I've seen on interstates is a rehash of what's been said already. A few days ago, I saw an empty refrigerator box fly out the back of a pick-up truck. Guy didn't even stop.
I had to dodge some recently fallen boxes in Portland on the ramp from 5 NB to 84 EB in addition to the guys attempting to clear them from the freeway this past spring. The contents of the boxes? Swiffers. Lots and lots of Swiffers.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.militarywivessaving.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FSwiffer.jpg&hash=edb7d8044082f52ab1b9e582492ccb9abeb67d03)
Not on the interstate, but I found some pieces of abandoned U Channel posts over the weekend. Looked like AHTD replaced a downed sign, but forgot to pick up the damaged posts.
I had a mattress hit my car on the fly once. Damn karma...we were behind the vehicle laughing at the wobbling mattress for a few seconds before it became airborne!
It's kinda common in NJ to see items along the highway that had been destined for someone's week at the shore. I always want to see their reactions when they are unpacking at their beach house, like they'll be scratching their heads knowing that they packed it before they left.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 18, 2014, 01:36:18 PM
Quote from: signalman on August 17, 2014, 02:30:09 AM
A traffic cone with a black base laying on its side in the middle of a travel lane. It was at night; making the black base difficult to see. It also didn't help that I was sneezing just prior to encountering it. I opened my eyes from sneezing and had a split second to slam on the brakes and jerk the car into the left lane to avoid it. Fortunately it was late at night and I was the only car around. Still, I must have missed that cone by inches.
once, in the middle of the night somewhere in Atlanta, I had just passed a speed limit 35 sign and was heading forward, when I needed to slam the brakes because I had seen ... something. I came to a stop inches from a pile of concrete rubble, covered in a black tarp.
I knew someone who was in a very similar situation (concrete in the road at a construction site, unmarked), hit the concrete, and was in the hospital off and on for months. Consider yourself lucky.
I've never understood the desire to ride with your foot out the window or even up on the dashboard. No doubt some of that is because my father would have punished me had I tried that in his car when I was a kid, but it still strikes me as not very comfortable and not very safe.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 19, 2014, 04:10:39 PM
I've never understood the desire to ride with your foot out the window or even up on the dashboard. No doubt some of that is because my father would have punished me had I tried that in his car when I was a kid, but it still strikes me as not very comfortable and not very safe.
This has been a pet peeve of mine for a few years now, particularly in the summer months: front seat passengers–usually a dozed-off wife or girlfriend, but worse, sometimes the ungainly husband/boyfriend clad in his filthy, ankle-height Walmart socks–with their feet up on the dashboard, toes pressed against the windshield, complete with a nice glazing of foot sweat on the glass.
But beyond looking like white trash, there's a greater to the passenger: Your feet are sitting right on top of the passenger airbag. What do you think is going to happen when it deploys? Combined with a reclined setback, you're likely to submarine under the seatbelt (assuming you're wearing it) and have your knees rocketed into your face.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 19, 2014, 11:49:08 AM
I have a theory about the shoes. I've seen enough front seat passengers with their feet hanging out the window as the vehicle is driving along for that to be the source of some of those shoes. Assuming they are untied or loose-fitting or flip-flops, I can envision one coming off in the 70 mph 'wind' outside the vehicle.
Front seat passengers are nothing. I once drove for several miles down NY 104 with a car right behind me where the DRIVER had his bare foot out the window!
I had a tailgater annoying me one day and I noted a pallet in my lane ahead. There was no traffic in the passing lane, so I delayed swerving to avoid the pallet till the last second.
Butt sniffer behind me ran right over it.
I didn't hang around to see how it turned out, but I'd like to think he needed a tow.
:-o
A dead moose (Alaska, off of the AK-1 freeway)
A bucket full of tennis balls (I-85, south of Petersburg)
A boat (off of I-64 near Providence Forge, hitch had come undone)
A family of ducks trying to cross eight-lane I-64 near Hampton
Most Halloween nights I see the broken remains of pumpkins that have jumped from overpasses onto the highway. I guess the idea that Halloween is gone for another year depressed them so they jumped. :)
South Carolina is terrible when it comes to keeping its roadways clean.
Just saw a lawnchair or beach chair in the median on I-20. I guess it had fallen off the back of a truck because it was not secured. Not too unusual, but I do wonder if some people (non-government) actually enjoy collecting this kind of stuff from the roads and making a profit off it by selling it on Ebay? Is that even legal?
Quote from: Zzonkmiles on August 20, 2014, 08:50:50 AM
South Carolina is terrible when it comes to keeping its roadways clean.
Just saw a lawnchair or beach chair in the median on I-20. I guess it had fallen off the back of a truck because it was not secured. Not too unusual, but I do wonder if some people (non-government) actually enjoy collecting this kind of stuff from the roads and making a profit off it by selling it on Ebay? Is that even legal?
Might depend on state law. I don't know about any specific statutes, but I'd guess there's a fair chance that many states have no specific law collecting debris but do have a law prohibiting stopping except in an emergency (at least on Interstate-grade roads, anyway), and the latter effectively prohibits the former because you'd likely have to stop on the shoulder (in violation of the law) to collect the debris.
This morning on I-87 south on the NY 5 overpass I saw a box for a toilet in the shoulder. No idea if the toilet was still in the box.
Random rolls of toilet paper on the I-55 bridge south of Ponchatoula. I've also seen a boat detached from a motor vehicle on the side of the interstate.
My wife got to see a dead person's body in the middle of I-12 some months ago.
Quote from: vdeane on August 20, 2014, 12:41:31 PM
This morning on I-87 south on the NY 5 overpass I saw a box for a toilet in the shoulder. No idea if the toilet was still in the box.
I think you just won this thread! :-D
Quote from: vdeane on August 19, 2014, 07:33:26 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 19, 2014, 11:49:08 AM
I have a theory about the shoes. I've seen enough front seat passengers with their feet hanging out the window as the vehicle is driving along for that to be the source of some of those shoes. Assuming they are untied or loose-fitting or flip-flops, I can envision one coming off in the 70 mph 'wind' outside the vehicle.
Front seat passengers are nothing. I once drove for several miles down NY 104 with a car right behind me where the DRIVER had his bare foot out the window!
I once encountered one like that on I-75 near Auburn Hills, MI. Driver of a limo, in full uniform (sans left shoe and sock, of course).
Quote from: vdeane on August 20, 2014, 12:41:31 PM
This morning on I-87 south on the NY 5 overpass I saw a box for a toilet in the shoulder. No idea if the toilet was still in the box.
Toilets can easily range into several hundreds of dollars, but would be unlikely to survive a fall from any moving vehicle, so it's not hard to see someone abandoning it (and probably hiding the expense in the bill somewhere).
I have seen countless items on the road right outside a Home Depot where careless loaders had items fly right off their trucks. Given a quiet enough cab and loud enough engine/radio/passenger, it can be easy to miss something big tumbling away behind you (or so I, um, hear).
On Saturday, I saw a bag of cotton on I-565. The back had come open and some of it was on the side of the interstate.
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
Quote from: cbeach40 on August 25, 2014, 01:02:03 PM
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
At least they didn't break. Breakage would've made for some pregnant pauses and a sticky situation.
Quote from: OCGuy81 on August 15, 2014, 10:55:35 AM
I once saw a full drum set sitting on the shoulder of the 22 freeway. Nice one too. Either somebody left it behind, or there was about to be an impromptu concert on the freeway I was unaware of. :-P
Wish I'da seen that! :-D I used to play the drums. I definitely would have been tempted to pull over onto the shoulder and bash them myself.
In Los Angeles/Orange County, drivers for some stupid reason have absolutely no concept of the idea of using rope, bungee cords, or otherwise
securing the load before barreling down the freeway! :banghead: :pan: Stuff is forever dropping, falling or spilling off cars and trucks. My friend Joe, who lives in Tujunga, calls it "having a yard sale." Ladders and mattresses are the two most common items, but plenty of other stuff, such as furniture, surfboards, boxes, wheelbarrows and even at least one kitchen sink (to make things complete) have been dumped onto the freeway. (I've joked that Christmas doesn't officially begin in Los Angeles until somebody drops the first Christmas tree onto the freeway.) The drum kit, though--that's definitely unusual, even by Los Angeles standards.
Quote from: briantroutman on August 15, 2014, 06:35:36 PM
Quote from: 6a on August 15, 2014, 06:25:47 PM
When I lived in Atlanta someone told me you could decorate a house by taking a lap around 285.
I remember KYW in Philadelphia did a radio promo titled something like "Extreme Makeover: Expressway Edition" which was a compilation of some of the household and home improvement stuff they had actually reported being in the road during traffic updates–like a couch, a load of plywood, a desk, paint cans, kitchen cabinets...
Just like Los Angeles!
Quote from: cbeach40 on August 25, 2014, 01:02:03 PM
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! :clap: :spin:
Well, just yesterday on I-5 in Everett, a concrete mixer truck spilled its load:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.komonews.com%2Fimages%2F140825_concrete_rollover_lg.jpg&hash=f7887364eb5e6e7c5cf74a3f69457cf44db3130b)
Quote
Concrete truck crash snarls I-5 traffic near Everett (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Concrete-truck-crash-snarls-I-5-traffic-near-Everett-272584681.html)
By KOMO Staff, Aug 25, 2014
EVERETT, Wash. -- A crash of a concrete mixer truck made the southbound commute into Everett morning quite a mess, both literally and figuratively.
The truck blew a tire and rolled over in the southbound lanes of I-5 near Dagmar's, said Trooper Keith Leary with the Washington State Patrol.
No one was hurt in the crash, but all lanes were blocked for a while during the morning commute for the cleanup, causing a backup that extended at least seven miles at the peak.
The roadway reopened for all lanes by late morning.
It managed to create a back-up to Arlington during the morning commute, creating a 41-mile backup (https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=I-5+S&daddr=I-5+S&hl=en&ll=47.870505,-122.252775&spn=0.826328,2.113495&sll=47.592164,-122.320704&sspn=0.00649,0.016512&geocode=FYSq3gId7I63-A%3BFdQ51gIdWIi1-A&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=17&t=m&z=10) when combined with normal Seattle-Everett traffic.
Quote from: hm insulators on August 26, 2014, 03:39:26 PM
Quote from: cbeach40 on August 25, 2014, 01:02:03 PM
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! :clap: :spin:
Gives a whole new meaning to "where (or when) the rubber meets the road."
BTW, when did the term "rubber" go out of vogue? In my youth and young adulthood, no one called them "condoms." We called them "rubbers." And we snickered when anyone used the term "rubber" to describe rain gear.
Quote from: hbelkins on August 26, 2014, 10:33:37 PM
Quote from: hm insulators on August 26, 2014, 03:39:26 PM
Quote from: cbeach40 on August 25, 2014, 01:02:03 PM
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! :clap: :spin:
Gives a whole new meaning to "where (or when) the rubber meets the road."
BTW, when did the term "rubber" go out of vogue? In my youth and young adulthood, no one called them "condoms." We called them "rubbers." And we snickered when anyone used the term "rubber" to describe rain gear.
I think it was when AIDS became a major public health issue and their use became much more heavily publicly promoted (by some, and decried by others). That's when I remember 'condom' becoming more common than 'rubber.'
Quote from: Pete from Boston on August 28, 2014, 09:02:55 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on August 26, 2014, 10:33:37 PM
Quote from: hm insulators on August 26, 2014, 03:39:26 PM
Quote from: cbeach40 on August 25, 2014, 01:02:03 PM
Then there's this classic.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgadling.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F06%2Fcondomtruck.jpg&hash=cd159d3a03a1942f31b2f990874910b00bdd7224)
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! :clap: :spin:
Gives a whole new meaning to "where (or when) the rubber meets the road."
BTW, when did the term "rubber" go out of vogue? In my youth and young adulthood, no one called them "condoms." We called them "rubbers." And we snickered when anyone used the term "rubber" to describe rain gear.
I think it was when AIDS became a major public health issue and their use became much more heavily publicly promoted (by some, and decried by others). That's when I remember 'condom' becoming more common than 'rubber.'
Definitely. That's when a condom became something you used to prevent catching a disease, whereas a rubber was something you used to keep from knocking someone up.
(1) In the middle of the night, a body on a berm on the northbound side of I-95 just prior to the Md. 212 (Powder Mill Road) in Prince George's County. After a quick call to the State Police, it was determined that the body was alive.
(2) A tank truck load of hot driveway sealant on the Outer Loop I-495 prior to Md. 355/I-270 in Montgomery County, a sticky nasty mess that could not be entirely cleaned-up.
(3) I did not see this one with my own eyes (but I did on TV), but the traffic impacts of this (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/june99/truck3.htm) crash in 1999 may have been as epic as I can ever recall, impacting traffic in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. A tractor-trailer combination headed north on I-95 through the old Springfield Interchange in Fairfax County, Va. overturned on the old (and pretty sharp) TOTSO ramp. Problem was that it had a cargo of black powder, and it took close to 24 hours to remediate - the off-load and loading onto other trucks was accomplished by ATF agents.
Quote from: Bruce on August 26, 2014, 05:49:20 PM
Well, just yesterday on I-5 in Everett, a concrete mixer truck spilled its load:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.komonews.com%2Fimages%2F140825_concrete_rollover_lg.jpg&hash=f7887364eb5e6e7c5cf74a3f69457cf44db3130b)
Well, golly gee, just a few days before a truck tipping in Bellingham.... (http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/08/28/3824512/cement-truck-accident-closed-meridian.html?sp=/99/101/102/?rh=1)
Does this count?
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-03-15-chicken-fat-spill_N.htm
It was a long time ago, but I remember this incident well. The traffic was absolutely nightmarish. Took me over an hour to drive two miles to school.
Quote from: Kacie Jane on August 28, 2014, 10:43:20 PM
Well, golly gee, just a few days before a truck tipping in Bellingham.... (http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/08/28/3824512/cement-truck-accident-closed-meridian.html?sp=/99/101/102/?rh=1)
I-5 in Bellingham has had it pretty rough the last few weeks.
(https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6156/6172743913_991bcb7d88_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/apsVHc)
Quote
Liquid nitrogen spill shuts down I-5 in Bellingham (http://mynorthwest.com/11/550524/Liquid-nitrogen-spill-shuts-down-I5-in-Bellingham)
BY KIRO RADIO STAFF on September 22, 2011 @ 8:32 am (Updated: 12:42 pm - 9/22/11 )
All lanes of I-5 were closed in Bellingham at Lakeway Drive Thursday morning after a semi-truck carrying liquid nitrogen overturned.
Not only did road crews have to right the semi-truck, they had to deal with a spill.
"Liquid nitrogen is the same stuff that you would use to pour on your skin to get rid of a wart. It's heavier than air so there's this mist that's spreading out across I-5. It looks really scary, but as soon it dissipates, things should be OK," explained Jamie Holter with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
There are no reports of any injuries.
Quote from: Bruce on August 30, 2014, 04:57:25 PM
I-5 in Bellingham has had it pretty rough the last few weeks.
Quote
Liquid nitrogen spill shuts down I-5 in Bellingham (http://mynorthwest.com/11/550524/Liquid-nitrogen-spill-shuts-down-I5-in-Bellingham)
BY KIRO RADIO STAFF on September 22, 2011 @ 8:32 am (Updated: 12:42 pm - 9/22/11 )
I'm not sure when 153 weeks became a few, but okay. :pan:
(I actually remember this, it happened while I was living right off the Lakeway exit. I didn't get to see it though -- I was already at work, and I didn't usually take the freeway home (if it wasn't already cleared by then) -- but I do remember several people being late that day and everyone talking about it.)
Quote from: Kacie Jane on August 30, 2014, 05:05:57 PM
Quote from: Bruce on August 30, 2014, 04:57:25 PM
I-5 in Bellingham has had it pretty rough the last few weeks.
Quote
Liquid nitrogen spill shuts down I-5 in Bellingham (http://mynorthwest.com/11/550524/Liquid-nitrogen-spill-shuts-down-I5-in-Bellingham)
BY KIRO RADIO STAFF on September 22, 2011 @ 8:32 am (Updated: 12:42 pm - 9/22/11 )
I'm not sure when 153 weeks became a few, but okay. :pan:
(I actually remember this, it happened while I was living right off the Lakeway exit. I didn't get to see it though -- I was already at work, and I didn't usually take the freeway home (if it wasn't already cleared by then) -- but I do remember several people being late that day and everyone talking about it.)
Not really paying attention, the Sounders are on.