Going down the grades HEAVY

Look familiar?

 

How so??????


You mean you never use brakes going down Cabbage, the Siskyou, Grapevine, Cajon, Vail?????

Funny.....every time I go down those grades...I see brake lights......

 

AS West11 posted. whitebird and lewiston grades in idaho are kinda nasty hills long steep and can do in a driver if not careful, ive went down whitebird with the jake going doing 35 mph or less and had log trucks as well as chip truck drivers fly by saying come on lets go, i just said see ya at the bottom but i will be in one peice. Cabbage in oregon is kinda nasty but i would rather go over it then donner, i can go down cabbage most times in the right gear with the jake and not use the brakes unless i have to.

 

Crap! Me and my memory. I guess it was a 12% grade. ...and with 10mph and 34K, Id guess I was in 4th. I remember 100% that I only had to touch the brakes a couple times.

 

I've been driving for awhile. When I come to a serious downgrade; I look, then usually say to myself, "Geez, that is one steep grade." Grab a gear, switch on full jake, and have at it. I really don't think in terms of gradients. It's steep or it's not. But, when you say a 12% grade; well, I had to give that some thought. 12%? Especially with virtually no use of your brakes.

So, here's what I found:

[FONT=&quot][Engineering Guidelines for road construction]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The maximum vertical grade shown in Table 8 should be used for all highway classes.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Table 8.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Maximum vertical grade [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Terrain classification.......Maximum vertical grade [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Level (L).......................................4 per cent [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Rolling (R)....................................5 per cent [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Mountainous (M)..........................6 per cent [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Steep (S).......................................7 per cent [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It is desirable to provide a climbing lane to up-gradient highways with heavy truck traffic where the length of the gradient exceeds the values in table 9. The critical length of gradient section for the provision of a climbing lane is recommended for highway classifications Primary and Class I, as shown in table 9. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Table 9.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Critical length of gradient section for the provision of a climbing lane[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Terrain classification............Primary..............................................Class I.......... [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Level (L) ...........................3 per cent - 800 m...............................3 per cent - 900 m[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
_____________________4 per cent - 500 m...............................4 per cent - 700 m[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Rolling (R) ........................4 per cent - 700 m...............................4 per cent - 800 m
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]_____________________5 per cent - 500 m...............................5 per cent - 600 m[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Mountainous (M)...............5 per cent - 600 m...............................5 per cent - 700 m[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
_____________________6 per cent - 500 m...............................6 per cent - 500 m[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Steep (S)............................6 per cent - 500 m...............................6 per cent - 500 m[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
_____________________7 per cent - 400 m..............................7 per cent - 400 m[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]It's my experience that taking any steep downgrade in 4th gear leave a trail of oil and pistons all the way down the mountain.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][Federal Highway Construction Standards]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interstate Standards[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Access must be controlled, with points of entry limited to interchanges with grade separation. (There are several exceptions to this rule.) Interchanges should be spaced one mile apart in urban areas and three miles apart in rural areas. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]All overpasses must have a 16.5-foot vertical clearance above the freeway, although 14-foot overpasses may be permissible within urban areas. This particular specification was created to allow for military apparatus (such as the huge atomic cannon) to pass cleanly under an overpass. Although military equipment of this size is not commonly transported on the Interstate Highway System (and the atomic cannon is no longer in use), the standard remains. If an overpass cannot be upgraded to accommodate 16.5 feet, then there must be exit and re-entry ramps that allow high profile vehicles to leave the freeway and rejoin the freeway on the other side of the overpass. Truss bridges and overhead signs must meet or exceed 17 feet. Standards may be reduced somewhat for tunnels or other long underpasses. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Interstates must be constructed with at least two 12-foot lanes of traffic in each direction. If level of service requirements specify additional lanes for the particular section of freeway, then those additional lanes become part of the standards (standard since 1966). [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Right shoulders must be at least 10 feet wide; left shoulders must be at least four feet wide. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Median width should be 36 feet in rural areas and 10 feet in mountainous or urban areas. Guardrail or jersey curb (K-rail) may be placed between lanes of traffic to reduce the required width of urban Interstate highways. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Vertical curbs are prohibited unless they are at the edge of the right shoulder and are sloping in nature (no more than four inches tall). [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Design speed should generally be 70 miles per hour, with 60 miles per hour sections allowed in hilly terrain and 50 miles per hour sections allowed in urban areas or within mountainous regions. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Maximum grade is six percent, with certain exceptions allowed in mountainous regions. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Interstates are generally open to all traffic, unless a specific waiver exempting certain vehicles is granted. [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]At-grade railroad crossings are not permitted on the Interstate Highway System (standard since 1966).


[/FONT]

 

The hill in question isn't an interstate highway. It's on rt 40 in Pa between Uniontown and the Md state line. Pa has a number of hills like that in the 9% - 12% range. There are exceptions to the 6% maximum on interstate highways. Ask anyone who has been across I 64 just east of Beckley W Va, the Sandstone grade. It's a steady 7% for 5 miles with 2 escape ramps that have seen a lot of use over the years

 

I have been on US 40 there before uniontown (my gps showed me that was the fastest route on the way back to the toll road). There were a couple of spots I felt like I was on a rollercoaster and I was very very happy that I was empty. Some of those towns through there though bothered me more than the grades did.

 

Good old Rt 40 that SOB is a FUN Mother ain't she. Try hauling Haz-mat to Baltimore guess which way I had to go. I-68 here was the fun part my regular trunck had busted its 5th wheel when the day BEFORE I was due to leave another driver used it as a spotter to move a trailer. He backed into a trailer with the jaws clsed and broke them OUT of the 5th wheel. Well the only tractor left in the yard was the spare. 88 Pete 362 COE with a 310 Cat 9 Over with NO JAKE. Here I am going to freaking Baltimore with Flammibles on and I have to go sans JAKES.

I was the only driver aviable that had Haz-mat in the yard at the time so I had to make the run. Needless to say on Sandstone I was pulling Seat Cushion OUT OF BY BUTT CRACK by the time I got to the bottom of it. Get back to the yard got my regular rig back and told my bos Retrofit some kind of Jake into this SOB before it kills a driver. This truck normally only went between the yard and the Railyards doing the intermodal work we had.

 

That's stated in the Interstate Standards relative to Mountainous regions. One OP mentioned the Donner Pass grade, which is pretty brutal; but, Donner, I've found is a grade that can actually be run with little use of your brakes, because most descents are of limited distance, broken up with many small upgrades so that you get just let 'er go. The OP mentioned the Grapevine; now that is a grade that demands your respect. Northbound trucks trailing dense clouds of smoke are a common sight. I was on that downgrade once, with a load of dog food. I had been having trouble, off and on, with my CB's reception. As I was descending, I was thinking to myself, "Why do so many drivers smoke their brakes on this grade? It's steep, but with the right gear, full jake, and stab braking, it's easily manageable." All the while, fiddling with my CB, trying to get reception. I finally got around to taking a look in my side mirror and Lo' and Behold, what do I see? Not a thing, due to the clouds of smoke billowing from my drives and tandems! When I got to my delivery in Tracy, CA some 7 hrs or so later, the inside of the trailer still had the stink of over-heated brake linings (the forklift driver actually stopped to check his forklift, thinking the smell was from it---embarrassing!) My lesson was: No matter how many times you have run a grade; never take it for granted.

 

Two questions:

Now that the subject of grade percentages has come up, indirectly:

Can anyone direct me to a publication or online source with a listing of the various locations of roads, highways, interstates, or whatever listed by percentage of grade?

Also, in my experience, I have found that a jake brake (on full-jake) is indispensable; but, never have I found a use for half-jake. I am curious as to whether this is true of others and, if not, in what capacity is it of any use?