PTC issues report on January snowstorm

[roadman]

After action report on Bedford to Somerset closure due to January snowstorm.

https://www.paturnpike.com/pdfs/about/PUBLIC_AAR_Report_Bedford_to_Somerset_Event_05APR2016.pdf

[jeffandnicole]

When I read these reports, I try to just go to the summary to see what it says.  Basically, it said:

A)  We did a great job because no lives were lost.
B)  We should do a better job in the future.

The PTC doesn't have a great track record as of late that it will do better.  And many of the improvements suggested within the tables noted in the summary seem to have more to do with aiding in situations that occurred, rather than preventing them in the first place.

The hardest thing is, of course, prevention.  Make it idiot-proof, and we'll find you a better idiot.  In this case, signage noting to keep trucks to one lane was ignored, which led to the entire blockage taking place.  Before that, trucks were struggling on the hills. 

What may need to happen is require trucks to pull over and stop, or to stop at the next service plaza, before conditions worsen.  Use cops and/or maintenance personal to monitor the highway to make sure there aren't any more trucks rolling on the roadway.  That said, there really isn't extra personal available to just stay stationed and monitor traffic, so this suggestion is easier said than done.  A state trooper could try to pull a trucker over, but once the accidents start happening, those accidents become the trooper's primary responsibility.  Usually they're just going to make sure the driver is ok and call a tow truck then move on to their next incident if the vehicle's off the roadway.

[Mr_Northside]

Another thing about that particular stretch is that, while there's entrance/exit access for "authorized vehicles", the stretch from Bedford to Somerset is ~36 miles with no other exits.  Other than the Somerset service plazas - which are only a couple of miles from the Somerset Exit - the only place for traffic to go is the shoulders.  That's a pretty long stretch.

[cpzilliacus]

IMO, the PTC should do what Colorado DOT does on I-70 west of Denver - mandate by statute or regulation and install signs informing drivers that all vehicles must have chains on board or 4x4 with decent snow tires, and provide places where all vehicles (especially westbound before the grade up to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel and eastbound from New Stanton) can stop and "chain up."

No, the climb to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is not as long and not as steep and not as high (about 2,300 feet)  as the climb to the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel complex (better than three times as high as Allegheny Mountain), but operationally, they are similar. 

[jeffandnicole]

IMO, the PTC should do what Colorado DOT does on I-70 west of Denver - mandate by statute or regulation and install signs informing drivers that all vehicles must have chains on board or 4x4 with decent snow tires, and provide places where all vehicles (especially westbound before the grade up to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel and eastbound from New Stanton) can stop and "chain up."

No, the climb to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is not as long and not as steep and not as high (about 2,300 feet)  as the climb to the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel complex (better than three times as high as Allegheny Mountain), but operationally, they are similar. 

Being that very few people using the PA Turnpike would have tire chains, I don't know how helpful that would be.  The road is fairly straight and level and any hills are relatively minor, with the exception of the Allegheny. 

Plus...remember...cars weren't having issues here.  It was the trucks that had issues, and the real problem was when the road was blocked due to trucks.  Cars were managing fine.

On dry pavement, chains can do quite a bit of damage to the road surface.  While out west snow may be on the road for extended periods of time, the PA Turnpike and most other eastern highways try to remove the snow ASAP. If chains were required, a similar de-chaining area would need to be built on the opposite side of the mountain there.

[jeffandnicole]

Hah...I could've written this opinion piece.  Pretty much is what I said last week...

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20160414_Turnpike_s_storm_report_is_a_snow_job.html

...Despite having taken a very long look at the latest snowbound stranding of hundreds of motorists on the toll road they ostensibly run, they remain incapable of acknowledging their failure. In fact, an untrained reader of the turnpike agency's "after-action report" could be forgiven for thinking officials were basking in the afterglow of a stunning success - a word that appears therein more than once.

[cpzilliacus]

IMO, the PTC should do what Colorado DOT does on I-70 west of Denver - mandate by statute or regulation and install signs informing drivers that all vehicles must have chains on board or 4x4 with decent snow tires, and provide places where all vehicles (especially westbound before the grade up to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel and eastbound from New Stanton) can stop and "chain up."

No, the climb to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel is not as long and not as steep and not as high (about 2,300 feet)  as the climb to the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel complex (better than three times as high as Allegheny Mountain), but operationally, they are similar. 

Being that very few people using the PA Turnpike would have tire chains, I don't know how helpful that would be.  The road is fairly straight and level and any hills are relatively minor, with the exception of the Allegheny.

Certainly the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel (which is the Eastern Continental Divide) is the high point on I-70 east of the Mississippi River (presumably I-76 too) at 2,200 or 2,300 feet above mean sea level.

At Sidling Hill, where it bypasses two long tunnels, it climbs back to about 1,800 AMSL.

Plus...remember...cars weren't having issues here.  It was the trucks that had issues, and the real problem was when the road was blocked due to trucks.  Cars were managing fine.

On dry pavement, chains can do quite a bit of damage to the road surface.  While out west snow may be on the road for extended periods of time, the PA Turnpike and most other eastern highways try to remove the snow ASAP. If chains were required, a similar de-chaining area would need to be built on the opposite side of the mountain there.

I could even live with a requirement that commercial vehicles only be required to carry chains.

Regarding pavement damage,  I do not think there is as much damage inflicted by  chains as there are with studded tires (not legal everywhere).

The noise and bumpiness of chains tends to assure that drivers will remove them as soon as they can.  Removal of chains on the Pennsylvania Turnpike can presumably be accomplished at the service plazas, though I also suspect that PTC can afford to build a place or two to remove the chains.

[roadman]

The noise and bumpiness of chains tends to assure that drivers will remove them as soon as they can.  Removal of chains on the Pennsylvania Turnpike can presumably be accomplished at the service plazas, though I also suspect that PTC can afford to build a place or two to remove the chains.

Or they could simply upgrade some of the existing emergency pulloff areas to be formal chain up and chain removal areas for trucks.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Would there be any wisdom in building an emergency truck turn around overpass near New Bethlehem?