Feb21 |
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Now All That’s Left Is Millions Of Dollars Of Our Money To Study How We Fucked Up And How We’ll Fuck Up Again
On Saturday — come on, I’m still catching up — Interstates 78, 80 and 81 were finally reopened after roughly three days of being closed due to a deadly 7-inch snowfall. As you may remember, some motorists were stranded for up to 24 hours on the Interstate due do major screwups from pretty much everyone involved. The governor did take full responsibility, so, y’know, that’s something you don’t really get from the federal government at least. Rendell has vowed an investigation — to be funded by taxpayer dollars, of course. And, yeah, there was a lot of snow and ice and it was kind of a weird storm. But, as the Inquirer’s Paul Nussbaum reported yesterday, other states tend to do a better job than Pennsylvania and don’t strand motorists for a full day on the road. How do they do it? The subhead kind of sums it up: “They plan far ahead and act preemptively.” Oh! That’s what we gotta do! Crews unclog Penna. arteries [Inquirer] |
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How DO other states prevent (multiple) trucks from jackknifing which causes intial backups which prevent plows from getting through which allows the trucks and cars which have been sitting the longest to become frozen in place and unable to be moved? I would truly be fascinated by the answer.
I live a few miles south of the easternmost point of the closure of I-78. Within about 15 minutes of the initial backup, all radio stations in the area were reporting the problem on their traffic reports. Not long after, media outlets in both Philly and NYC had the story. Yes, the state could have done a MUCH better job at closing the entrance ramps, but at what point do drivers take responsibility for knowing road conditions on the routes they plan to travel?