Roadway Designs with Truckers in Mind

Adequate rest areas for commercial vehicles, especially on approaches into large cities. IN (for all the rest of the stupidity in that state) does provide large parking areas going into Indy - I70 is a good example of this. Enroute, the "picnic areas" in TX are one idea, the extra-wide paved shoulders in NJ are another. The nanny-state approach to hours-of-service requires 10-hours of break time for every 14-hours of on-duty time, yet the nanny-state won't provide a place for this to happen. The VA gestapo suggests that we are guilty of bad planning for this, boots us out of rest areas after 2 hours, and suggests "we should get a motel room" - how?

"Service Plazas" that don't charge $5 for a miniscule cup of bad coffee.

If you have to fit a curved exit ramp with say a 10-to-25 mph speed limit into the plan, have the decency to give us a deceleration lane that is actually long enough to slow a 80,000 lb vehicle without resorting to an emergency stop! And make that ramp actually wide enough so a CMV can negotiate it without damaging the equipment.

The same goes for traffic circles - good signage so it's obvious which branch goes where. Wide enough so a CMV can negotiate it - the trailer dog tracks to the inside of the curve requiring a wider lane. For gawds sake, don't ever use a vertical curb... something sloped so we can overrun it without damaging the curb or the equipment.

Longer CMVs are coming - I'm against it, but the WalMarts of this world have the money and that's what our government listens to. You're going to need to start thinking about providing enough room to deal with "Rocky Mountain Doubles." That's one tractor pulling two 53' vans at a combined vehicle weight of over 100,000 lbs. NY provides a trailer parking area at exits in order to handle this sort of operation. Also single 53' trailers with three tandem axles weighing in over 100,000 lbs. are in the works... it's already a fact of highway life in Canada. Pavement materials, bridges, lane design will all have to change in order to handle this. In high-temperature regions, asphalt is not adequate to the task... the rutted lanes in I10 and I20 through south TX are a testament to this!

 

I rode with my Dad in a car to Philadelphia via the PA Tpk in heavy slush. We were going to his Mom's or brothers funeral, can't remember but the slush was about 4-6 in deep and my Dad drove all the way passing steel and coal trucks, fishtailing all over and he never once lost control in 300 miles.

 

Rocky Mountain Doubles are a 48 and a 28 ft. I was leased to Watkins-Shepard out of Missoula.
Glossary : Trucking : ROCKY MOUNTAIN DOUBLE
A combination vehicle consisting of a tractor, a 45 to 48 foot semi trailer and a shorter 28 foot semi trailer.

 

Why can 2 trucks weighing 80,000 lb ea run side by side on Interstates but you can't pull a set of trailers with a maximum gross wt of 155,000. WHAT is the diffeence. After pulling heavies in the oilfield I don't understand why everyone put up such bull about the doubles. Shhhhhhhh! Nobody cares.

 

Why can 5 TTs run down I 81 so close together at 65 MPH that you cannot get between them yet no one can pull doubles because they're dangerous or what?
I've run the Thruway more miles than I can remember and I cannot remember 1 incident with a set of 53 doubles. Just had to pass them.
Quitcherbellyachin.

 

It pisses me off about the exit speed limit signs. I see many of them posted behind something or in the curve and you enter the exit before you even see it and the curve being tighter than it really looks plus watching other traffic next thing you know your grabbing brakes and gears trying to get slowed down. I think they do that on purpose just to claim prize money on an accident.

 

Just like cancer... sometimes a few good cells have to die in order to kill the bad ones.

 

Taking out good cells doesn't always mean the cancer goes away.

 

8 and a half

 

get rid of the left lane restrictions. I, for one would prefer to be in the left lane while bypassing a large city, away from all the idiots getting on and off while crossing several lanes at once.(like ATL)