Paul G. Allen wrote:
On Sun, 2007-02-25 at 11:41 -0800, Alan wrote:
I often thought one of the best things they could do with the
Interstates (in CA especially) is plant the medians with tall dividers
(bushes, tree, whatever).
I remember the days when most of them were (as I remember it anyway).
It's cheaper to have a short cement wall that does not require watering
and upkeep I guess.
I'm older than you and the only one *I* remember with anything tall in
the center divider was 395 (now 163) through Balboa Park, which is still
the same. I-8 had bushes, never had tall trees, same for I-5 (which is
not exactly an old freeway) and 94. I-15 (was Murphy Canyon Road) wasn't
even a freeway until fairly recently and then had nothing but dirt
ditches. 805, and 52 never existed in other than their current
configuration.
K-rails have saved a _lot_ of lives. For the most part, gone are the
times of weekly head-ons on 80 (now I-8) through the valley, and more
often on 94.
The point of K-rails is to force the car to drive back off the wall with
minimal damage. And for the most part they work: note the number of tire
tracks on those walls.
At sufficiently high speeds, the car's an unguided missile and nothing
short of a bridge support, large tree, or just friction will stop it.
For some reason, whenever anything happens over there on that side,
everyone on this side needs to slow down and check it out.
I watched a guy on 8, full size truck with trailer, stop in the middle
lane just to look across to the other side of the freeway to see what
was happening. More than a few cars had to avoid the moron. I had
already moved to the left lane as I saw him start to turn his head and
slow down.
PGA
We do love our car wrecks. It's an American obsession. It's why American
Idol and the Anna Nicole Smith (Britney Spears, etc.) story are so
important.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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