Part 9 of the "Defensive Driving Course?" series will be a look at injuries and casualties around Dallas- Fort Worth's massive freeway (re)construction project's and lack of emergency access in some cases. This particular accident claimed 2 lives and some other injuries ... but this is something that I wondered about time and again, since I travel this freeway (LBJ) alot ... (my neighbourhood is at Marsh & LBJ Frwy) ... as far as having emergency crew access, in this situation it wouldnt have done any good for the casualties of course since the truck crushed them instantly, but being able to get to this scene was a nightmare. You see ... there are NO emergency shoulder lanes in various part's of these project's, which isnt planned well in my opinion, and wreck's for instance along this stretch are nearly daily with several fatalities even. I travel all the area's of the DFW Metroplex freewayz and toll road's weekly, and see alot of wreck's and problem's with many of these site's.
Within minute's of this wreck I was getting on LBJ eastbound at Marsh Ln going toward's Garland, the first thing I noticed was the inability for emergency crew's to even get to this, since everything came to a halt in minute's, I was lucky enough to catch easy access to the freeway to travel eastbound, because none of the other eastbound traffic from the west before Marsh Ln was able to get through ... I proceeded east on LBJ and looked at the back- up in less than a half hour after this wreck I measured at least an 8 mile back- up on the westbound side, there were not only any emergency shoulder's, but even several exit's were closed off, with make shift temp exit's to handle 3 exit's through one and they had to lower in folk's by helicopter to get to anything, emergency crew's were all the way back approximately 3-4 miles between the High- Five North Central/ LBJ interchange and the Dallas North Tollway/ LBJ Frwy interchange, even the police couldnt budge. Some video and newsread below, then some input from me after.
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***** NFL NOTICE: For the reader who like's football, tonight a good match up on NFL Network 8 pm EST when the New York Jets go to Boston to take on the New England Patriots, both are tied at 1- win/ 0- losses and both division rival's in the AFC East.
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***** CBS/ DFW: Dump Truck Crash Closes LBJ Freeway In Dallas ... (newsread)
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PD/ RCJ: "DEFENSIVE DRIVING COURSE" PART'S 8 THRU 1
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This project is bigger than I first thought looking at it since it started which is roughly 13 mile's, it is a reconstruction/ expansion of existing freewayz, in this one they are building an elevated deck of this length that start's around the interchange at Loop 12 & Stemmons Freewayz, going through the Stemmons & LBJ Freeway mixer/ interchange, the Dallas North Tollway/ LBJ Frwy mixer and past the North Central Expwy & LBJ Frwy mixer (High- Five) and these mixer's/ interchange's have alot of traffic and 24/ 7/ 365, the High Five alone get's over 600,000 vehicle's per day using it. In heavy construction area's of these (all over the Metroplex, not just North Dallas) you not only have no emergency access lanes (or even anywhere to pull over if you get car trouble), but nothing but a concrete barrier about 4'ft tall seperating east- west/ north- south bound lane's with lanes changing and curving weekly in some of these ... these are basically death trap's any way you slice it. Speed limit's in heavy construction are supposed to be 50 and 60 mph (depending on area), although many folk's ignore it and travel at 70 to 80 mph (and kid's on motor bike's I clocked at time's up to 90 to 100 mph weaving in and out between lane's at time's) ... no one worries about speeding I reckon, cause there is nowhere for police to park to take radar either, or wouldnt even be able to pull you over for that matter ... so frankly many dont give a shit ... but ya'll should, you shouldnt need the threat of cop's/ law enforcement to force you to apply your brain where needed.
Another thing, is I hope that there is a very thorough investigation of this dump truck driver in this accident, all I hear is that his record/ history has no problem's from the subcontractor he worx for ... what? ... a 3 year work history? How in Hell do you jump a 3' to 4' ft. concrete median barrier driving in normal condition's that is parallel to you? The thing is, like on so many massive Texas (re)construction project's like these ... the contract's are actually farmed out to the "sub"contractor's with little to no oversight of who is getting what ... which is basically done to get the cheapest labour. Many of these project's even get done a year or more ahead of schedule because of the multi million dollar bonuses that crew owner's/ manager's receive to push the worker's harder and faster ... this is fact.
Good news is that another huge project called DFW Connector just been completed, which was an equal mess as far as traffic and accident's, most of the new downtown Fort Worth mixmaster is completed as well ... but the newest massive mess (believe me) has just broke ground a month ago or so in downtown Dallas which is called the "Horseshoe Project" that will be another 4 year's before that one is complete ... and the downtown Dallas Horseshoe Project I heard on the news this morning had 4 pile up wreck's in the middle of the night with many injuries that resulted from only one wreck ... being the chain reaction effect. Someone need's to look into these safety code's ... but especially make it so that there is emergency access availablity more than there is in so many area's of these project's.
Word Out ....
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LBJ Express Project- Full Project Fly- over- 05.22.2013 ... Thanx to LBJ EXPRESS
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How in Hell do you jump a 3' to 4' ft. concrete median barrier driving in normal condition's that is parallel to you?
ReplyDeleteI wondered about that when I saw the picture. Hard to see how someone could do that even if he was trying to.
no one worries about speeding I reckon, cause there is nowhere for police to park to take radar either, or wouldnt even be able to pull you over for that matter
Do the police in Texas not use patrol aircraft? If people are doing 80 in 50 zones they need some way of dealing with it. A plane or helicopter can't pull somebody over, but they can identify the car to be stopped later.
Infidel753- Of course there is air patrol, who uses air patrol for speeding? Do you realize the expense? Air patrol whether it's in this city or any city is NOT used for speeding, but felony crime's, pursuit's, etc ... beside's ... you ID/ spot say 1000 car's simutaneously doing 80+ mph ... how would you citate them? and who would pull them over, eh?
ReplyDeleteThank You for your comment