I95 closed in VA

[6518John]

Accounts report that in yesterday’s storm multiple people simply abandoned their vehicles in the travel lanes. That, of course, is far dumber than driving with hazards on.

I have actually personally seen this myself and would not have believed the incident but for witnessing it. Many of these severe weather events here in the south are accompanied by sleet and ice storms. Sleet is not so bad, but the black ice coating everything and the roads is killer.

I was taking a physician neighbor to her hospital shift a couple of hours before daylight in one of these ice and snow storms here. Low and behold I see an elderly grandmother type with the Velcro tennis shoes and a walker with the neon yellow tennis ball feet ambling along in the road as best she could (I and the doctor were dressed like we were going to work on a North Dakota natural gas drilling rig). I was low-locked in four wheel drive in a Jeep Wrangler with a lift kit and all four tires heavy lugged and studded.

Grandma had romped the accelerator on her four door Old’s Delta 88 and managed to get it high-centered on the narrow median of an even narrower town road, effectively blocking the road in both directions. Richard Petty or the best stunt driver in Hollywood could not have gotten the land-barge Oldsmobile better stuck than she had.

She left it—no lights, hazards, nothing (visibility was about 20 feet that morning with freezing fog, rain, sleet and snow). She told me, “the police can handle it, that’s what we pay them for.”

I git her keys, put on hazards and left my streamlight on pointing in the direction traffic would most likely come. Then we took the lady back to her little townhouse. I got the doctor to the hospital, then went home and got a log-chain and my son to see if we could get the Olds off the median and out of the road.

When we got back the LRPD was there and a huge sergeant told me my streamlight kept him from plowing into the front end of the car sticking out in his lane. They had run the tag, and he had sent an officer over to the lady’s house thinking someone had probably popped her in the head, stolen the car, wrecked it on the ice and just left it. His lady officer had discovered the elderly lady was leaving to go to a doctors appointment!

I got my streamlight back and retired from roadside assistance and traffic control!

 

[Doug M.]

Whataya mean it is not lawful to drive with the 4 ways on? That's how you warn people behind you that there is something going on about they need to know. That's stucking foopid.

As for driving down south - when I was trucking I hated going anywhere but the north east in the winter. Most places south of I80 don't have the gear or the mindset needed to address poor weather.

 

[ladder13]

Sometimes these things cannot be avoided.

Yeah, I’ve gotten stuck in traffic numerous times. Do I get an award?

1-Just last summer heading to the NC mountains I was stuck for quite awhile on I26, almost 2 hours. There are two lanes going up and down mountains, somewhat difficult during normal times due to trucks traversing the mountains.
Everything was fine heading west out of the Charlotte area, until it wasn’t.

No GPS service up ahead so no warning from stuck Wazers up ahead. How else would I know there was a car fire that shut down one of the two lanes making things worse?

The exits were miles apart and I obviously couldn’t go backwards.


2- Going back home on 95 from NY and coming upon a fatal accident on the highway. Road was closed. Alternate routes were jammed with thousands of cars and trucks looking for a workaround. Took 3 hours to get past Richmond.


Hindsight is 20/20. Freak storms happen too. I guess thousands of people should have just looked for a hotel, if they cold find one.

 

[len917]

When we go to Hilton Head SC (off I-95) we travel from PA via I-78W to I-81 S to I-77 S ya-da ya-da NO TOLLS--NOT MUCH TRUCK TRAFFIC AND GREAT SCENERY. The only concern is Charlotte NC around rush hour but that can be avoided with proper timing. I also save about $40 in tolls.

 

[dockmurgw]

This was not caused by a car fire, this was not caused by a fatal accident. This was caused by a PREDICTED snowstorm. Intentionally drive into that, on an interstate that is a nightmare on a good day, in an area generally unprepared for such events, and yes...you get an award. I know someone who drove through that area on Sunday, he cut his trip short after seeing the weather report and went home early. Had he ignored the weather report and got stuck, he would get an award.

 

[The Big D]

State laws vary.

You understand that individual state laws do vary, I hope?

Cheers!

Whataya mean it is not lawful to drive with the 4 ways on? That's how you warn people behind you that there is something going on about they need to know. That's stucking foopid.

As for driving down south - when I was trucking I hated going anywhere but the north east in the winter. Most places south of I80 don't have the gear or the mindset needed to address poor weather.

 

[The Big D]

Happened to me!

But blamed no one!

Was in Key West Super Bowl weekend circa 2010 and the mid-Atlantic got hit by a BIG snowstorm. Was quickly advised by the airline that I wasn’t getting to BWI for several days, at least, and was already in Key West far too long.

Took my scheduled flight out on Monday and made it to the scheduled connection in Charlotte. Collected my bags and rented the very last SUV on the lot. Made it to Lexington, VA, before weather stopped me. Got early start the next day and made it to Winchester, VA, where weather again prevailed. Two more nights there and finally home.

HOWEVER, car was still 140 miles away at BWI. Finally got there, dug it out, and trip ‘complete.’

Yes, coulda stayed in Key West for those four additional nights but then I’d be dead and not around to tell the story.

Cheers!

Too many people don't take winter weather issues seriously enough. They seem to think it's like Disney World where everything has a safety net. No doubt some of these folks were out in this stuff with little more than flip flops and a sweater and never giving any consideration they may get stranded even for a short time.

I suspect some will be blaming the government for the bad weather.

 

[Salty RI]

When driving on I-95 along the corridor between Richmond and Baltimore, I usually bypass the Interstate and take the old US Route 301.



You can pick up Route 301 from either I-295 (which encircles Richmond) or I-95 itself (which runs through Richmond). It then runs northeast, away from Richmond, crosses the Potomac River into Maryland, bypasses Washington, and links up with I-97 just north of Annapolis. When you get onto I-97, it will take you up to I-895 and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, and then connect you again with I-95 just north of Baltimore.



This sounds more complicated than it is, and while parts of 301 have intersections and traffic lights, I find that overall it's a much less stressful way to get through that region. You might not save much time overall, but it's a lot less hassle.

My son lives in Ashland, one time coming home the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 95 was backed for miles at 5 AM, we took 301 and nobody was on the road.

Sent from my LGL455DL using Tapatalk

 

[Greyman50]

Drove I-95 20 years ago to when it opened. Was obsolete, under laned from the git go. 99% of traffic engineers should be took out and shot. Just look at all the round abouts popping up everywhere. Small town off I-77 in N.C. just put one between interstate and really nice hardware store that has tons of knives, what an ignorant thing to do.

 

[Golddollar]

I always carry detailed maps( paper) on any long distance trip, easy to see “ alternate routes” to avoid idiot caused crashes on interstates.

Rand McNally is your friend.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Rand McNally is your friend.

One of the advantages of living in the Mid-Atlantic region is that we are a reasonable drive to just about anywhere, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and even New York City. I've always taken day or weekend trips, and I always carry maps in my car. Yeah, I've gotten hooked on Waze, but there's no substitute for opening a map to see exactly where you are, and to plan a good route to get where you want to go.

 

[Sistema1927]

Gob smacked when I saw the woman interviewed who was angry that nobody came along to bring her food and water. Guessing that she is one of those who don't prepare for hurricane season either.

 

[LVSteve]

Drove I-95 20 years ago to when it opened. Was obsolete, under laned from the git go. 99% of traffic engineers should be took out and shot. Just look at all the round abouts popping up everywhere. Small town off I-77 in N.C. just put one between interstate and really nice hardware store that has tons of knives, what an ignorant thing to do.

Re traffic engineers, I agree. When somebody comes to my door wanting my vote to put them in state office, I ask if they will remove the HOV lanes in Vegas, fire the entirety of NDOT, and start anew. If the answer is no, then it's "get off the property" time.

On roundabouts, I cannot agree. However, I learned to drive in the UK so I've likely had more practice at them than the rest of the Vegas population combined.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I use a non built in GPS, paper maps and have other googling our way wherever we drive out of town.

Ivan

 

[Ruger Nut]

There is no excuse -- none whatsoever -- for the bad driving that was exhibited in that storm. The local news here was full of stories of stuck cars and traffic jams...ridiculous.

If your tires and/or car aren't capable...or you're terrified of the white stuff...or if you're just not that good a driver...stay the blank at home when it snows. As Dirty Harry once said...a man's got to know his limitations.

When I lived in Tampa, FL. (1987-2012), if someone would throw an ice cube on the road, people didn't know how to drive!

 

[ladder13]

My map is right on my dashboard, big and bright, my phone is at the ready. I just keep trucking’.

Yes there are dead spots, but I tend to avoid them and they usually don’t last very long.

 

[Doug M.]

You understand that individual state laws do vary, I hope?

Cheers!

*
Yes, but that is a real outlier and not consistent with the Uniform Traffic Code (which most states use). It is also really unsafe. I think I would want to see the statute in question and maybe the case law annotations.

 

[Puller]

Re traffic engineers, I agree. When somebody comes to my door wanting my vote to put them in state office, I ask if they will remove the HOV lanes in Vegas, fire the entirety of NDOT, and start anew. If the answer is no, then it's "get off the property" time.

On roundabouts, I cannot agree. However, I learned to drive in the UK so I've likely had more practice at them than the rest of the Vegas population combined.

You may or may not realize it but elected state house representatives can't actually do any of those things.

 

[LVSteve]

You may or may not realize it but elected state house representatives can't actually do any of those things.

Not even if they passed legislation to do so? I guess it comes down to how the state constitution is written.

 

[Greyman50]

We will see how Va. turns around in a few weeks, bet there will be many, many jobs “ open up”. There is a standing joke, “ whats yellow and sleeps 6?"…………………VDOT truck…Can apply to any states/ commonwealth.