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If you're going to slam your truck into a Storrow overpass, do it right, we always say
By adamg on Mon, 05/04/2015 - 4:52pm
Tamra Carhart shows us what happens when a truck that doesn't belong on Storrow Drive gets up to ramming speed before tearing itself apart at one of those quaint little overpasses leading up to the Fenway and Kenmore Square.
Rory Nolan gives us another view.
Wonder what that "Clearance" sign in the photo by P. Cheung reads:
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Comments
this should be the benchmark
For all future "storrowing" scores. This one is 10/10
Indeed
Top fucking shelf.
# of people affected (between
# of people affected (between commute home & Sox game) affected by this blind @sshole: 75,000+
Chances the driver & company will be significantly fined for all the police & maintenance crews required to clean-up (not to mention the added stress for anyone who relies on Storrow to get home): No chance
Chances the driver loses his/her license: Of course not
What is wrong with this picture?
What is wrong with this picture?
Obviously, the problem is that we haven't completely re-engineered the river roads to accommodate every possible type of vehicular traffic. This never would have happened if someone had just thought of the poor trucks.
Yours truly,
--Markk
Actually
the State Police are very aggresive at leveling serious fines to both the driver and the company in this situation. (source, friend who works for DCR Central Services - the folks who are dispatched to clean messes like this one up)
And while the driver may not lose his CDL, any severe crash like this one is a serious black mark on his record. Which will affect his chances of seeking employment with any trucking company.
varsity team
this one will be hard to beat, extra credit for getting it up on 2 wheels.
scoring ...
I think one has to deduct a few points for allowing a lane of traffic to remain open and clear ... but then award a few extra points for going above and beyond simply peeling the top off the box and getting the vertical support pillar involved.
yeah but
He still managed to simultaneously screw up traffic in both directions, even if he did leave room for some traffic to get through. That must count for something?
I'm strict
For a full 10/10 he needs to block traffic in both lanes on the ground plus the lanes on the bridge.
Still a podium finish. With a little more practice he's sure to get the gold.
That's not both directions,
That's not both directions, it's the offramp to Fenway/Kenmore and the continuing westbound traffic (I think).
Points off
As I noted elsewhere, we have to deduct at least half a point for failing to take the roof completely off.
Still giving them a 9.5.
Not a full roll over
A full roll-over AND a completed can-opener would be 11/10.
Although imperfect, this epic performance does give some pure Storrowing satisfaction.
Oh, no doubt
Sometimes one has to step back from the technical merits and score based solely artistry.
Can we have a kickstarter to
Can we have a kickstarter to put cameras under the Storrow bridges? Imagine a compilation of trucks hitting the bridge with Benny Hill music in the background.
Now there's a public art
Now there's a public art project I think we could all get behind (and appreciate). Project it on the Greenway and filter it, slow it down for the excellent crash rewinds so it looks like some kinda almost avant garde shit and we've got video art for the masses.
better idea
they could show it on a big screen at the entrance to Storrow drive during move-in/move out season. In fact, these pics should be on a billboard at the entrance to Storrow year round. I was caught in that traffic yesterday. I hope the driver is in the ICU...frickin' jerk.
That clearance sign
It says 11' 0". The one above the section he was originally on says 10' 6' however. I think his truck was 10' 10". What's amazing is that he must have just barely made it under the Mass Ave bridge, Longfellow, as well as about 3-4 footbridges including the Fiedler. Because I don't know where you get on the outbound Storrow any closer than Charles St in order to get to that ramp to Kenmore/Fenway.
Berkeley
You can get on at Berkeley St. The entrance is clearly labeled "Cars Only".
Ah, right
That intersection is so messed up with the lanes going both directions depending on the lights and the exit lane being the parking lane, etc.
are you thinking of the Arlington Street intersection?
The intersection of Berkeley and Beacon is an ordinary 90-degree crossing of two one-way streets. There is no exit lane because it's only an entrance to Storrow Drive.
Yep
My mental image of that area without looking on a map overlaps the two, sorry.
Berkeley St, my man
Only overpass he had to clear was the Gloucester St. footbridge.
As I've posted before, while
As I've posted before, while the Berkeley St onramp has good "cars only" signage, https://goo.gl/maps/DUKpB
there's absolutely no warning back at Berkeley and Beacon, which is the last chance to turn off before you're stuck at that onramp. https://goo.gl/maps/Miryk
Nor is there any signage facing traffic on Beacon that might turn right onto Berkeley: https://goo.gl/maps/fqUR9
A simple no-trucks icon on those new signs pointing to Storrow, 93, and 28 might not be prominent enough, but it would be better than nothing.
there's absolutely no warning
Absolutely no warning? Ahem, pan the image slightly to the left and what do we see? A no trucks sign with a (admittedly nonstandard) yellow AHEAD banner below it.
https://goo.gl/maps/IV28J
Come on people, before criticizing the lack of a sign, actually check and make sure there isn't one!
Now, if the
No Trucks or Buses warning were posted with the Storrow Drive guide sign, it might actually prove a benefit.
Ok.
Ok.
I did pan around, but still missed it. That says something about the signage.
And I still don't see a sign
And I still don't see a sign on Beacon Street, to prevent a truck from turning right onto Berkeley.
Dartmouth and Gloucester
And the Harvard Bridge.
Gloucester is signed at 12'2", but Dartmouth is only 10'0", a full 6" less than this bridge. But I assume they figured if you made it under that one, you'd make it under this exit as well.
He also would have had to make it through this little literacy test, too.
Still, full marks.
A failure of a literacy test
Doesn't tell the driver what the low clearance is. Cars Only signs bear NO relationship to real regulatory signs (i.e. not black on white). Weird warning sigh that is totally non-standard.
And worst yet - the driver would have to back up because the warnings are posted AS they make the turn, not well in advance of the entrance.
Given these factors, it is not surprising at all that the driver made the decision to continue onto Storrow Drive. But that's what you get when the DCR considers the aesthetics of their precious "recreational" parkway more important that posting proper signing.
Two things
What part of "cars only" did not apply here?
Where do you live that all this letter perfect signage makes one bit of difference? It certainly ain't Sydney, Montreal, or Durham, NC: http://11foot8.com/
News flash
Proper and standard signing costs the same as non-standard signing. So why not put in the proper signing instead of this nonsense we have.
Non standard and "oddball" signs are less likely to be noticed by drivers in complex situations, especially when drivers have already committed to entering the road. Suppose Somerville decided to place a rectangular green on white sign that read "STOP" at the end of your street because somebody decided it was more asthetically pleasing than a standard stop sign. Would you expect drivers to pay attention to it?
Plus, as I've stated countless times in other threads on this subject, "Cars Only" doesn't tell the truck driver "Hey, the lowest overpass on this road is only 9 feet above the road." Nor does a low clearance sign that doesn't state the actual clearance. This later point is critical, because it is standard practice to post clearances on highways that are higher than the max legal height for trucks.
Of course, the proper solution is to abandon this idea that Storrow Drive is a "recreational parkway", and adjust the clearances so that all traffic can use the road. But that would actually make sense.
And how do you propose
And how do you propose adjusting these clearances? Many of the structures crossing over Storrow are historic, and/or constrained in such a way that it would be very difficult and expen$ive to rebuild them, and you can only undercut the road so much because of flood concerns.
And just how much
does every Storrowing cost in terms of damage and other costs? As for the bridges over Storrow Drive being "historic", the only one that even comes close to qualifying is the Longfellow. Even then, "historic" is never a legitimate excuse for not bringing something up to proper standards.
"historic" is never a
So you're saying every surviving colonial building should be retrofitted with wheelchair lifts, modern electricity and plumbing and fireproofing, etc.?
And every antique car should be required to have seatbelts and airbags and antilock brakes, etc.?
History is absolutely a reason to exempt something from modern standards.
And as for the Longfellow being the only historic bridge, are you forgetting about the BU bridge? And the Harvard bridge? And then the bridges farther upstream on Soldiers Field Rd? Pretty much every bridge across the Charles is historic.
Roadman, like Markkkkk...
... forgets about just about everything other than what makes life most pleasant for people who get around almost exclusively by automobile.
;-(
replying to your comment only
replying to your comment only to stay on the 'solutions' thread, rather than the 'scoring' thread. agreed that these bridges will not be redone anytime soon, and pragmatically speaking, signs are not working, so something like this could be effective:
http://northamptonmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/concept-600x457.jpg
i didn't look if these things actually exist. there'd need to be a bunch of them.
Dug in
Storrow drive is still a few inches above the level of the Charles, right? If we can't rebuild the bridges (wait, aren't we rebuilding those bridges right now? Doesn't the Longfellow have friggin rail over it? Refusing repairs for historic reasons is kind of like saying, "I put in a modern V6 but won't include seat-belts because it's antique") we could probably lower the road a little more. I mean, sure the big dig might have us a little gun-shy, but the real reason nothing has been done is because we'd rather laugh at the poor sods who get caught in the grinder than get rid of something clearly dangerous and idiotic.
Like the right turn light that is green along with the crosswalk at Columbus and Centre St.
Like the convoluted set of U-turns required to get on and off Storrow up in Alston
Like the infinite loop that forms around the Common come rush hour when you get stuck in left only lanes with no time to move over in heavy traffic
Like the places with several blocks of one-way roads all facing (sort of) the same way (half of JP)
Like the one street in Boston that runs in a straight line, doesn't terminate in a dead end or do not enter, and is actually uniquely named just to prove it's possible. You know, that one, the one with the unicorns at the end of the rainbow. I hear there's always parking there too.
Like the round-about going onto the BU bridge from Cambridge that narrows 4 lanes of cars into one lane at a stop light, then spreads them back out to two lanes, so that every CT2 takes 15 + minutes to complete this 100 feet of its route every evening.
Like the bike lane that disappears without signage a few blocks before the mass ave bridge
Like the many two way streets that are wide enough for 2.5 cars to drive on... except for the always occupied parking... or the one ways wide enough for 1.5 cars, (say it with me) except for the always occupied parking
Like the T stop in the middle of a road, right after a turn light, in a lane of traffic with with no platform.
So I'm sure a fix is... "right around the corner." Just hold your heads up high Boston, because your public works department is about to take care of things - don't mind the cars only sign, keep your head up. Just a little longer... oh, that's gatta hurt.
If the Cars Only sign slamming into your truck doesn't work
Probably nothing you could put there would work.
There is one way to bring Storrow into compliance: CLOSE IT.
You know what's a standard traffic signal?
A red light.
Now come hang out outside my work at 5:00 and we'll see how meaningful having a red light that looks like every other red light on the face of the earth is when drivers don't care / aren't looking / can't be bothered / know the chances of them facing consequences is approximately hahahahanever
There's a corporate
There's a corporate sponsorship opportunity here that the city should be capitalizing on:
"Storrow Bridge, maintained by OXO Can Openers"
This is fun! Do we know if
This is fun! Do we know if the driver was OK?
Physically, yes, he's fine
No injuries, State Police say.
For now
His boss, however, is gonna terminate him.
No worries, this is America.
No worries, this is America. He won't lose his license for a second and he'll be putting lives at danger again tomorrow.
Now, now
he did cause property damage
bosses don't like paying for new trucks
It reads
CLEARANCE: NOT YOU
stupidity
another dumb driver causing unnecessary traffic.
Wooo!
Storrowing of the century!!!
Good work, comrades; we foiled a Commie plot!
The Communists were secretly hiding lawn fairy-killing snow inside that truck! But then the City of Boston fought back, and the truck crashed! The delivery could not be made on time! Their delivery failed! A triumph for the Free World!
(Although legitimately, this one's definitely the benchmark for more to come!)
Very badly done. Bravo.
Very badly done. Bravo.