Edge Traps Kill
#12
Down here in Florida I've only seen a 1" difference between lanes during construction and that can be bad enough....But 2"???
Sounds like people up there need to talk with thier state legislature and have a law enacted prohibited such variations in lane height.
Sounds like people up there need to talk with thier state legislature and have a law enacted prohibited such variations in lane height.
#15
WOW, 2 in one day, on the same stretch of road, HMMMM ???? "ONE" of the issues I have up here, SIGNAGE OVERLOAD !!! They have so DAMMT many signs, one get's "lost" in 'em, and prob'ly 'misses' the one ya need to SEE THE MOST !!!
Riding a hardtail chop, with a 'narrow' front tar, I watch like a hawk, even entering the Slab. The transition from ramp to road, even when it is minimal, can throw you for a loop. And it is hard to get the 'right angle' when coming down the ramps.
I have gone "OFF" one of these before, BUT never 'up onto it'. Needless to say, it is an EYE OPENER. Thank goodness, for that motocross experience !!!!
Lost a very dear classmate, when I was a 'kid', he was truckin' down a SoDak road, they were doing construction, and there was a windrow of gravel(from belly dumpers) on the right half of the roadway. It was right after sunset, NO MARKERS in place, yet, and he hit the gravel doing 50+. Launched him like a rocket ship. Helmet was of li'l saving grace, at that point in time. The scoot 'planted' itself in the gravel, and was still standing there, on it's own.
Riding a hardtail chop, with a 'narrow' front tar, I watch like a hawk, even entering the Slab. The transition from ramp to road, even when it is minimal, can throw you for a loop. And it is hard to get the 'right angle' when coming down the ramps.
I have gone "OFF" one of these before, BUT never 'up onto it'. Needless to say, it is an EYE OPENER. Thank goodness, for that motocross experience !!!!
Lost a very dear classmate, when I was a 'kid', he was truckin' down a SoDak road, they were doing construction, and there was a windrow of gravel(from belly dumpers) on the right half of the roadway. It was right after sunset, NO MARKERS in place, yet, and he hit the gravel doing 50+. Launched him like a rocket ship. Helmet was of li'l saving grace, at that point in time. The scoot 'planted' itself in the gravel, and was still standing there, on it's own.
Last edited by Da Gumpmeister; 09-04-2009 at 06:56 AM.
#16
This is a valuable post. I never gave it any thought, never had an issue crossing between the two. But I always reduce speed and cut it near 45 degrees. This scares me that I never thought about it. The grooved pavement is what I always get white knuckled on.
#17
I've been riding through that exact construction area twice a day since it started (months ago). I rode through it that day, a few hours after the first accident and back home in the evening after the second. The construction is on both North and Southbound sides. The quality of the work is atrocious and I hope the families sue the crap out of the state. No doubt it was a low bid contract given to some sleazy contractor with political ties. If there are any investigational reporters left in this world, this contract needs some looking into. Really - six months to repave a 2 mile stretch of highway and it's only about half done?
The lanes are individually and randomly deeply scraped for repaving at night and those are nearly impassable by car let alone a bike. The adjacent lanes are repaved, but have an edge of at least 2-3 inches. As I said, this construction has been going on for months, but not with consistent activity or quality. It's like it's being done by part-timers. Also, the scraping changed dramatically this week. In past weeks and months, it was annoying to get caught in the milled lanes. This week -- it was terrifying. What changed?
There's no notification of which lanes are scraped, so suddenly, you find yourself wallowing on ridges that are as thick as your thumb. Your first reaction (in a car or a bike) is to get the hell out of the scraped lane. If you try to change lanes on a motorcycle by climbing a curb like that -- you're going down. Some riders are posting on sites to just hit the lip at a 45 degree angle. Yeah, OK, at 65 mph, going parallel to a edge 3 feet away from me, you want me to make a 45 deg turn? I’ve never felt my bike squirm on any surface as much as it did the past week on this stretch of road. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cross that solid white line -- there is one, I can definitely confirm, though. Very tough to slow down on that road with prevailing traffic going 80-90 mph.
The six-lane divided highway in this area goes from asphalt (in various stages of reconstruction) to concrete as there are several overpasses. The concrete is intact and unaffected, but the interspersed asphalt sections are unpredictably paved and elevated, scraped and lower or untouched. I rode through this area about four times in the last week, and it's impossible to pick a lane ahead of time. Here's a traffic cam shot of the area, just North of the accident site. You can see the mix of concrete and asphalt.
I’m so pissed about this and the reaction of idiots who respond to the posted newspaper stories. (Blah, blah, blah…”donor-cycles”, “motorcycles don’t belong on the roads”, etc.). These were two random middle-aged family guys out for a ride – one on his way to work in North Jersey and to his shop in Bordentown. I feel like getting every rider I know together to go out there and shut the damn road down in protest. RIP Jude Bihari and Ron Ross. Really sorry our tax dollars orphaned your kids.
Road Construction Kills Two Motorcyclists in Separate Accidents...
The lanes are individually and randomly deeply scraped for repaving at night and those are nearly impassable by car let alone a bike. The adjacent lanes are repaved, but have an edge of at least 2-3 inches. As I said, this construction has been going on for months, but not with consistent activity or quality. It's like it's being done by part-timers. Also, the scraping changed dramatically this week. In past weeks and months, it was annoying to get caught in the milled lanes. This week -- it was terrifying. What changed?
There's no notification of which lanes are scraped, so suddenly, you find yourself wallowing on ridges that are as thick as your thumb. Your first reaction (in a car or a bike) is to get the hell out of the scraped lane. If you try to change lanes on a motorcycle by climbing a curb like that -- you're going down. Some riders are posting on sites to just hit the lip at a 45 degree angle. Yeah, OK, at 65 mph, going parallel to a edge 3 feet away from me, you want me to make a 45 deg turn? I’ve never felt my bike squirm on any surface as much as it did the past week on this stretch of road. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cross that solid white line -- there is one, I can definitely confirm, though. Very tough to slow down on that road with prevailing traffic going 80-90 mph.
The six-lane divided highway in this area goes from asphalt (in various stages of reconstruction) to concrete as there are several overpasses. The concrete is intact and unaffected, but the interspersed asphalt sections are unpredictably paved and elevated, scraped and lower or untouched. I rode through this area about four times in the last week, and it's impossible to pick a lane ahead of time. Here's a traffic cam shot of the area, just North of the accident site. You can see the mix of concrete and asphalt.
I’m so pissed about this and the reaction of idiots who respond to the posted newspaper stories. (Blah, blah, blah…”donor-cycles”, “motorcycles don’t belong on the roads”, etc.). These were two random middle-aged family guys out for a ride – one on his way to work in North Jersey and to his shop in Bordentown. I feel like getting every rider I know together to go out there and shut the damn road down in protest. RIP Jude Bihari and Ron Ross. Really sorry our tax dollars orphaned your kids.
Road Construction Kills Two Motorcyclists in Separate Accidents...
Last edited by KopperTop; 09-04-2009 at 08:23 AM.
#18
I've been riding through that exact construction area twice a day since it started (months ago). I rode through it that day, a few hours after the first accident and back home in the evening after the second. The construction is on both North and Southbound sides. The quality of the work is atrocious and I hope the families sue the crap out of the state. No doubt it was a low bid contract given to some sleazy contractor with political ties. If there are any investigational reporters left in this world, this contract needs some looking into. Really - six months to repave a 2 mile stretch of highway and it's only about half done?
The lanes are individually and randomly deeply scraped for repaving at night and those are nearly impassable by car let alone a bike. The adjacent lanes are repaved, but have an edge of at least 2-3 inches. As I said, this construction has been going on for months, but not with consistent activity or quality. It's like it's being done by part-timers. Also, the scraping changed dramatically this week. In past weeks and months, it was annoying to get caught in the milled lanes. This week -- it was terrifying. What changed?
There's no notification of which lanes are scraped, so suddenly, you find yourself wallowing on ridges that are as thick as your thumb. Your first reaction (in a car or a bike) is to get the hell out of the scraped lane. If you try to change lanes on a motorcycle by climbing a curb like that -- you're going down. Some riders are posting on sites to just hit the lip at a 45 degree angle. Yeah, OK, at 65 mph, going parallel to a edge 3 feet away from me, you want me to make a 45 deg turn? I’ve never felt my bike squirm on any surface as much as it did the past week on this stretch of road. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cross that solid white line -- there is one, I can definitely confirm, though. Very tough to slow down on that road with prevailing traffic going 80-90 mph.
The six-lane divided highway in this area goes from asphalt (in various stages of reconstruction) to concrete as there are several overpasses. The concrete is intact and unaffected, but the interspersed asphalt sections are unpredictably paved and elevated, scraped and lower or untouched. I rode through this area about four times in the last week, and it's impossible to pick a lane ahead of time. Here's a traffic cam shot of the area, just North of the accident site. You can see the mix of concrete and asphalt.
I’m so pissed about this and the reaction of idiots who respond to the posted newspaper stories. (Blah, blah, blah…”donor-cycles”, “motorcycles don’t belong on the roads”, etc.). These were two random middle-aged family guys out for a ride – one on his way to work in North Jersey and to his shop in Bordentown. I feel like getting every rider I know together to go out there and shut the damn road down in protest. RIP Jude Bihari and Ron Ross. Really sorry our tax dollars orphaned your kids.
Road Construction Kills Two Motorcyclists in Separate Accidents...
The lanes are individually and randomly deeply scraped for repaving at night and those are nearly impassable by car let alone a bike. The adjacent lanes are repaved, but have an edge of at least 2-3 inches. As I said, this construction has been going on for months, but not with consistent activity or quality. It's like it's being done by part-timers. Also, the scraping changed dramatically this week. In past weeks and months, it was annoying to get caught in the milled lanes. This week -- it was terrifying. What changed?
There's no notification of which lanes are scraped, so suddenly, you find yourself wallowing on ridges that are as thick as your thumb. Your first reaction (in a car or a bike) is to get the hell out of the scraped lane. If you try to change lanes on a motorcycle by climbing a curb like that -- you're going down. Some riders are posting on sites to just hit the lip at a 45 degree angle. Yeah, OK, at 65 mph, going parallel to a edge 3 feet away from me, you want me to make a 45 deg turn? I’ve never felt my bike squirm on any surface as much as it did the past week on this stretch of road. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cross that solid white line -- there is one, I can definitely confirm, though. Very tough to slow down on that road with prevailing traffic going 80-90 mph.
The six-lane divided highway in this area goes from asphalt (in various stages of reconstruction) to concrete as there are several overpasses. The concrete is intact and unaffected, but the interspersed asphalt sections are unpredictably paved and elevated, scraped and lower or untouched. I rode through this area about four times in the last week, and it's impossible to pick a lane ahead of time. Here's a traffic cam shot of the area, just North of the accident site. You can see the mix of concrete and asphalt.
I’m so pissed about this and the reaction of idiots who respond to the posted newspaper stories. (Blah, blah, blah…”donor-cycles”, “motorcycles don’t belong on the roads”, etc.). These were two random middle-aged family guys out for a ride – one on his way to work in North Jersey and to his shop in Bordentown. I feel like getting every rider I know together to go out there and shut the damn road down in protest. RIP Jude Bihari and Ron Ross. Really sorry our tax dollars orphaned your kids.
Road Construction Kills Two Motorcyclists in Separate Accidents...
You 'raise' an important point, IN MY HEAD, anywho.
The part about "cheap bids".
Given the state of the economy, NOT just Fed, but ALL the states, WE, as consumers and commuters, MUST BE aware of the reduced $$ that is available, and as such, HAVE to recognize, that MAYBE we have to step up, and "cover" the shortfalls, from the budget messes.
This may include, paying WAY MORE attention, as they just do not have the $$ to cover ALL the bases, IE, continuous construction, til projects are finished, etc. IT takes a lot of $$ to do ALL the things we, as consumers, DEMAND. It's either pay attention, or pay taxes. IF we want someone to 'cover' ALL the bases, ALL the time, we are gonna have to pay MORE.
Doesn't give them the avenue to skirt the rules, BUT sometimes, we do demand things to a "T". Jus' sayin'.
THIS is one of the major probs, with the way they do things NOW DAYS. Used to be, they would CLOSE the road when doing these projects, BUT people complained like H*LL 'bout that. So to "Please" them, the states have elected to try and rebuild the airplane, whilst flying it.
And I pity those guys working those jobs, with cars, trucks AND scooters, whizzing by, at break neck speeds. Couple or more, get killed every year, by 'commuters', ALWAYS in a friggin' hurry.
On the 'flip side', they were able to demolish, remove and replace the 35W bridge (that collapsed) in one year. UNHEARD of, to my recollection.
On a 'humorous' note, THAT contract, is being 'investigated', as you proposed.
#19
I almost lost it when I hit a completely unmarked construction site like this at 55 mph about a year ago, and I hit right on the lip. Best thing to do it hit the flashers and scrub as much speed off as possible and ride the grooves out.
#20
I rode that section of road everyday for 3 years and it was a piece of crap then.I haven't worked in that area for another 3 yrs and they have been screwing with 295 forever.The speeds in this area are definitely high rate.I have always been able to navigate these even running nearly parellell with the mini-curb but they are not the most fun thing to do and at night if not seen could definitely bring you down.