We’re already down one freeway as it is — now two more?
Posted on January 9th, 2008 – 12:27 PMBy Roadguy
Rollover likely to close freeways through rush hour
Roadguy just drove over the westbound lanes of I-94 on the south edge of downtown Minneapolis, and they were eerily empty. Sounds like Mr. Truck Driver was just trying to deliver some unleaded gasoline so commuters could fill ‘er up and get where they needed to go, and now they might not be able to get around at all. If you’ve got any stories from the road, please share below. I’m off to St. Paul myself — we’ll see how long it takes to get back.
18 Responses to "We’re already down one freeway as it is — now two more?"
No explosion? Wow, what a letdown…
well i’ll give props to the strib traffic site today. googlemaps just reports the closed sections of interstate as green (given there is no traffic) and the strib page shows where the closures are and reports them as Gray.
if i hadn’t heard about this, i would have googlemapped my way into a detour on my drive home today. 
I’ve been monitoring the traffic cameras since I heard about the accident. They reopened the freeways just after 1pm.
511 says they are still closed for the next 3 hrs. http://www.511mn.org/default.asp?area=TC_Metro
“We’re already down one freeway as it is — now two more?”
Not to mention the first 15 minutes of the Channel 5 11am news showing us the “foam” over and over again.
From the Star Tribune:
As of 1:20 p.m., only northbound Interstate Hwy. 94 from the Lowry Hill Tunnel to Interstate Hwy. 394, and the ramp from Hennepin and Lyndale avenues to northbound I-94 and westbound I-394 remained closed, the State Patrol said.
I heard about the accident almost right away this morning on my drive to work. But to find out they closed the tunnel down had to be painful for afternoon traffic. Thank goodness it wasn’t during rushhour that would have been really bad.
I would like to see a ban on trucks during rush hour (even though this wasn’t rush hour). Like the article road guy posted about in china a few months ago, where trucks weren’t allowed out until like 8 or 9 PM at night.. But i think just during the heaviest travel times (6-9 & 3-6), every bit of traffic we reduce will help out
Unanticipated side benefit to freeway closures: lowered rate of roadkill. Or will it exacerbate the roadkill rate on side streets? Someone commission a study!
Banning trucks during rush hour is a rather elitist opinion. (And trucks clog my commute daily)
Instead, how about we revitalize train tracks to carry more freight and people?
Well i agree with that also.. I think that we fail to use rail for moving supplies around.
I don’t drive during rush hour, but I just think that every truck you take off the road during busy times would make things a little more smoothly. And a problem like today, even though it didn’t happen during rush hour, would never happen during rush hour if trucks weren’t on the road.
But yes, i think as prices for gas continue to rise, hopefully they begin to look at rail and trains again as an efficient way to move products.
Three problems with banning trucks:
- The metro area is a trucking center, and banning that commerce, even if only during the rush hours, would put another crimp in what is already a fragile local economy (at least at the present).
- Trucks are a *VERY* small percentage of overall traffic during the rush hours. Banning them would have very little impact on rush hour traffic.
- You’d be seeing lawsuit city from the trucking industry the moment you attempted a ban. Especially in the metro, a large number of trucks are carrying interstate commerce. And regulating that commerce is squarely in the realm of Congress.
Jeeze. Banning trucks? Give me a break. When is the last time an accident — let alone one involving trucks — shut major freeways down this long.
Give me a break, guys. You’d rather gasoline be delivered to stations via rail?! HA HA HA
Even worse than shutting down traffic, some of that gasoline got into the the storm sewers and flowed into the Mississippi.
See, this is what happens when a truck loaded down with fuel swerves to miss a raccoon or squirrel.
Clearly, we need fewer highways.
Any info on the driver? Was he intoxicated? It was a clear day with dry roads. How did this’professional’ driver flip his rig? Speed, driver error? This idiot going too fast not only delayed thousands of motorists but also contaminated our environment. The driver of this rig should understand that this was the biggest gaffe in his life. Thanks for that trucker -tr + f.
If the driver of the truck was clearing negligent, he should not only face criminal charges, but be held financially responsible for the clean up. My tax dollars are being spent poorly enough.
The trucking company will be held responsible for nearly all costs related to the cleanup. They’ll probably be asked to compensate the fire department for equipment costs, but not staff time. Also, MnDOT will probably ask for some financial compensation. Too bad we can’t get they to pay the citizens of the state back for the inconvenience of having the Lowry Tunnel and the ramps closed. Don’t forget that they might be fined by MnDOT or MPCA, too.
