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Aug 20, 2007 1:46 pm US/Mountain
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Project I-70: Andrea Lopez' Blog, Part 4
Concerns About Truck Safety
by Andrea Lopez
(CBS4)
The concerns about truck safety along the Interstate 70 corridor are far-reaching. While the Colorado Department of Transportation is spending nearly $2.5 million this fall to more than double the number of chain up areas on I-70 and improve existing ones, people have expressed to me that they have additional concerns that go beyond truckers chaining up in the winter time.
The Silverthorne Police Department often sends officers up to the interstate to help facilitate road closures during severe snowstorms. It's not uncommon to see an officer or two sitting at the road block in the eastbound lanes at the Silverthorne exit, directing traffic off of the road when the conditions are too dangerous for motorists to continue east. So they are very familiar with the interstate and some of the issues associated with it.
One of the issues that its police chief, Joe Russell, has brought to the forefront lately has to do with trucks that lose their brakes after descending from the Eisenhower Tunnel down to Silverthorne in the westbound lanes of I-70. Russell has expressed his concerns in letters to CDOT as well as the Colorado Motor Carriers Association.
In his letters, Russell tells the story of a truck that recently lost its brakes while coming down this steep grade. As the truck approached the bottom of the hill, the driver took exit 205 or the off ramp into Silverthorne, making a sharp right hand turn at the intersection or the bottom of the ramp. Since the truck had no brakes, it couldn't stop and it struck another vehicle that was waiting for traffic to clear to make the same right hand turn at the bottom of the off ramp. Russell said that the truck nearly T-boned another vehicle on Highway 9 as he made this turn. Luckily, no one was seriously injured but Russell said that the accident tied up traffic in this extremely busy intersection for hours.
Russell goes on to say that this is becoming a frequent event. He said that last summer there was a similar accident. A truck that lost its brakes took the off ramp and tried to make a sharp right hand turn at the bottom of it onto Highway 9. The trailer overturned onto a jeep, according to Russell, crushing it. The two people in that jeep were able to duck down below the door level, but it took firefighters from Lake Dillon Fire Rescue about an hour to get them out after using equipment to prop up the truck's trailer and pry the doors of the Jeep open. Once again, there were no serious injuries but the accident tied up traffic for hours. On another occasion a truck hauling beer lost its brakes, and after taking the same exit and trying to make the same right hand turn, spilled its load all over the road, shutting down that intersection for hours.
The driver of the truck who lost his brakes in the first above-mentioned accident told Russell that he was unfamiliar with the area and took the first exit he could find. The police chief writes that when truck drivers use the runaway trucks ramps positioned along this downgrade, there's usually a safe end to situations involving burned out or lost brakes. But he said when truckers don't use these ramps for whatever reason, the end result is often a disaster and people have died.
Russell suggested that better education and betters signage may help save lives and make the road safer. He feels that it's only a matter of time before a similar accident occurs that may have a fatal ending, shutting down that intersection for hours or more than a day. The chief said that if a truck without brakes just continues past the Silverthorne exit and drives up the steep grade of Silverthorne hill, there's a scenic overview at the top where the truck can safely slow down and pull over.
CDOT responded with a letter, telling the chief that it was aware of these close calls and that it's looking into improvements that will make the roadway safer. CDOT is in the middle of a major project, developing signs similar to the truck warning system at westbound Floyd Hill to warn truck drivers that there's a severe downhill ahead. Construction crews will be making improvements to the wide area just west of the tunnel; these improvements are part of the current project to improve existing chain up areas and build new ones. CDOT also said that it would like to provide a "check brake system" station at this location if the funding is available.
In the meantime, signs are being designed now and they'll be installed on the approach to the Silverthorne off ramp, warning truckers who have lost their brakes to proceed westbound and to not use this exit as a runaway truck ramp. The Colorado Motor Carriers Association planned to bring this issue to the attention of its Safety Management Council which consists of safety managers for various trucking companies along with regulatory personnel. The Association hopes to have some safety suggestions in the near future.
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