Highway 89 in Garden City, UT claims another fool.

Are there any traffic cams at this intersection? If not there should be

 

Wow that's rough.. Not even that big of a hill. Been up and down it a couple times. Always thought it was sketchy coming off the mountain right into town and always wondered if anybody ever crashed and burned into someone's house. Guess it wasn't a crazy thought after all.

 

Supposedly they put the ramp too far up the hill. Once they realize they’re screwed they’ve already passed the run a way ramp.

 

It’s a pretty big hill, but after he realized how steep the climb up from Logan Canyon was, I’m surprised he was willing to go any faster than 25 down the other side. I reckon he’s now a believer in the ‘go down the same speed you came up’ approach.

 

I drove that route all the time. I used it to get from Logan, UT up to I-80 by Little America without having to go through SLC. And the road down into Garden City is a seat cushion sucker for sure. The truck speed limit is 35mph and it curves coming down the hill a lot. and the runaway truck ramp uses a cable catchment system instead of the typical long deep sand technique. If you overheat your breaks I always though you would wind up in Bear Lake because that is exactly where you are pointed coming down the hill with a dense ring of vacation homes between the road and the lake.

I wonder if this driver was speeding before his brakes overheated. It's tempting to start down at 55 mph instead of the truck speed limit. Personally, if traffic is blocking the runaway ramp I'm hitting that traffic on my way to the ramp. At least the people in that crash deserved to be run over.

 

Every foot farther down the hill the real estate gets more expensive and closer to Bear Lake. I suspect the ramp position is politically viable more than optimally placed. That city is where I would retire today if I could. It's small, not well known, and as beautiful as almost any non-resort place in The West. There are also often sheep occupying the road in large numbers.

 

I got more nervous coming down that hill than I did coming down Cabbage Hill in OR. This hill sneaks up on you. Lord help anyone with an automatic and no jake, even if they don't speed.