Narrowing roads and permanent potholes
Driving subjects from the past few columns have generated a wealth of reader email. That’s a good situation, and here’s a sampling.
A note from reader P.Y. addressed an issue by writing, “An item in your October 13 article caught my eye. It had to do with how far ahead of a merge point Washington puts its notices that lanes would merge. We were traveling west on I90 once at a time when there was a lot of construction going on east of Snoqualmie Pass. I’m not sure how far ahead the merge notice actually was in this case, but it was a long way. Folks were pulling over into the right lane soon after the notice and things started slowing down quickly. Other, less patient folks started zooming by in the left lane. After a couple of these went by, the driver in front of me, in a pickup, pulled out into the left lane and just stayed there right ahead of my left bumper and wouldn’t let anyone pass. People would pull up and almost hit the pickup, drop back next to me, then do it again, all the while swerving back and forth. Eventually they would pull out on the shoulder and whip around the pickup. Then we got folks going down the shoulder on the right side and another pickup further ahead pulled out on that shoulder to stop them. Things settled down as we got to the merge point. You pondered in the article whether moving the merge notice would make a difference. In this case, I believe it would have. There would have been less time and distance for people to get crazy.”
P.Y. is correct that long lead times for merge warnings give certain drivers plenty of time to engage in questionable and unsafe behavior.
I’ve seen the self-appointed lane blockers like he described in action; usually, though, it’s the driver of an 18-wheeler taking on that role. Nevertheless, whoever does it, such action arouses rage within other drivers, causing the angriest among them to retaliate or make erratic maneuvers around the blocker.
Using these scenarios as examples, it seems that excessively early warnings may have the opposite effect of their intention, initiating disorder rather than order.
Then B.W. typed a gripe about what he calls “permanent potholes”. He questioned, “Why do they put the manhole covers right in the tire tracks? Do they avoid the middle of the road because of grease dripping from center of car engine area? Did a great job of smooth repaving on Bowdish between 16th and 21st but manholes are lower than street so you try to avoid them. Where my father lives on Pines the manhole covers bounce and bang when big truck hits them.”
I don’t think that the entities placing manholes and their covers are concerned about oil drips. Rather, I think that the locations are randomly chosen according to utility requirements, with no regard for traffic. I find that they are located arbitrarily within any and all areas of the roadways, meaning that many of them end up directly in the “tracks.”
A friend once rolled over a manhole cover with a front tire, causing the lid to flip out, which in turn blew out the back tire and bent the wheel rim. Ever since, I swerve to miss or straddle the covers with my vehicle. I especially endeavor to miss them while on my motorcycle!
I’ve noticed that during repaving, covers and their holders are tossed onto a pile. Upon reinstallation, covers are not paired with their original openings, while insulating gaskets and bolts intended to quiet and hold lids in place are commonly left out. That leads to incessant clanging as vehicles pass. I once worked near a location where that happened about 30,000 times a day! A call to the appropriate utility finally resolved the nuisance.
B.W. is correct that those cover locations can act as permanent potholes, especially when they are installed lower than the road’s surface level.
When questions or concerns arise while driving, please relay them to me — readers and I will be enlightened as a result!
Readers may contact Bill Love via e-mail at precisiondriving@spokesman.com.
