CA tunnel accident

[mrblanche]

I have been through the "tunnel" in CA that was the scene of the big accident this weekend.

Truckers have complained for years that that tunnel was a disaster waiting to happen. It at the bottom of a long hill, with a curve in it. All southbound truck traffic is required by law to use it, which is why there were so many trucks involved in this accident.

Of course, to California's way of thinking, no trucker is intelligent enough to see such a design or legal problem. Even today, state officials are saying that the truckers' complaints about the curve and darkness were unfounded, and the tunnel is "safe...as long as the truckers are careful."

Apparently not.

[D_E_Davis]

You didn't mention that the tunnel is just after the merge with the SR14 freeway, which also carries a lot of truck traffic.

Ah, yes, CA is really a "trucker's paradise", isn't it?

[DonTom]

"Even today, state officials are saying that the truckers' complaints about the curve and darkness were unfounded, and the tunnel is "safe...as long as the truckers are careful."

What is the legal speed limit there and how fast were these truckers doing who caused the accident?

-Don-

[mrblanche]

The speed limit there is 55, and I suspect they were going slower than that. Or, at least the first one to get hit was.

I have come into that tunnel and had cars zipping around me, which I had to deal with while watching for slower trucks.

It's always been a bad spot.

[mrblanche]

Here's the report from today.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3733720

Buried in the report is the fact that, although all the normal truck traffic that normally uses the dedicated truck lanes is now sharing the road with the cars, the traffic is flowing better than usual.

Hmmm....could that be because they removed a forced exit, a dangerous bottleneck, and a forced merge?

[mrblanche]

Another incident:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3738724

Just too many vehicles out there!