respublica

Two views of Paris

Our oldest grandson is in Europe with members of his Lutheran South High School class and he has been sending back photos. Yesterday we received two very different views of Paris. The first was of a gorgeous cathedral, the name of which he neglected to mention. The second picture is of something he called the highlight of the trip-a Nike Store.

Are we going north or south?

I'd long heard the saying about the direction of highway numbers was: "evens run east to west and odds run north to south."  But it wasn't until yesterday when a friend of mine posted two American highway maps with these routes. It is most certainly true about the evens and odds.

Traffic like I've never ever seen

I had to go over to St. Louis this morning and left around 9:30 which is normally a good time to go traffic wise. But as soon as I merged onto 55/70 from Collinsville I saw every one of the 3 lanes filled with bumper to bumper cars and trucks. Frankly I have never driven on a highway so filled. And, most of the vehicles were the huge semi trucks with a car maybe squeezed between now and then. I mean, all 3 lanes bumper to bumper and nothing moving more than 5 miles an hour. As I headed into a curve I saw the same endless lines of big trucks and some cars. Same going up or down a small hill. 5 miles an hour or no miles an hour at some points.

This did not end until we passed route 203. I finally learned from KMOX radio that IDOT started repairing some concrete wall along the interstate at Route 203 this morning and two left lanes were shut down before that point. When I came home noon, all that traffic was gone, it was smooth sailing westbound. So, IDOT completed the work and opened it up later in the morning. But my issue is, why the heck did they not do this work later in the morning rather than during the morning rush hours? It made no sense.

And, where were all those trucks coming from? We always see semi's on that road, but never in this kind of numbers. I got to wondering whether most of them were heading back west after being part of a truck demonstration in Washington DC. I just don't know, but it was awful driving...or not actually driving. Sitting and crawling.

Here is a picture I took when we were at a stand still. The same or worse image was in my rear view mirror.

Another bad part of all this was once the road opened up to normal speed, half the cars and trucks just stepped hard on the gas and it was a free for all of reckless speed.

This snow is not fun

KIds may like the major snow we have been getting for the third day, but boy, it makes things really hard. I'd like to be outside moving it, but there is just too much for me and Dale. The city plow came through a few minutes ago, but only cleared one side of the street. Weird.

We have food, no big deal, but most likely the grocery stores will be closed today again. Which is good policy. But once it gets to the point where we can all get out, we'll be heading for the grocery stores in big numbers again. I feel real sympathy for those workers, they just can't catch a break. First Thanksgiving, followed by Football playoff parties, then Christmas and new years, more football parties and now snow shopping.

We have several meal options still in fridge, freezer and cabinets, but it won't last forever. Looks like the snow wants to last forever, however.

The American Legion has pull for sure. They must have contracted plowing by a guy in a white pick-up truck. He cleared their lot yesterday afternoon and he's back already this morning. They aren't even open for anything today and if they go ahead with tomorrow's fish fry there is plenty of time to get things plowed tomorrow.

The Tally is back

So far this year 8 mattresses and 8 ladders have fallen onto St. Louis highways.

Last year the final total was: Ladders 84 and Mattresses 64

This wins the worst traffic award

The morning news has been covering a total botch-all on Virginia interstate 95. This highway is a main road, into and out of. the District of Columbia. Every day during rush hours it is filled with federal workers and others heading home from work.

Yesterday Virginia, DC and Maryland had a huge snow fall and not much in road clearing was done. Here is what happened, something which is the stuff of travel nightmares.

"Hundreds of motorists were stranded all night in snow and freezing temperatures along a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 95 after a crash involving six tractor-trailers in Virginia, where authorities were struggling Tuesday to reach them.

Both directions of traffic on I-95 came to a standstill Monday between Ruther Glen, Virginia, in Caroline County and exit 152 in Dumfries, Prince William County, the Virginia Department of Transportation said. “Crews will start taking people off at any available interchange to get them,” the agency tweeted at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday.

The tractor-trailer collision Monday afternoon caused no injuries, but brought traffic to a standstill, and it became impossible to move as the snow accumulated. Hours passed with hundreds of motorists posting increasingly desperate messages on social media about running out of fuel, food and water"

The images of bumper to bumper traffic at a stand still for miles since yesterday afternoon and all through the night is stuff of nightmares. 19 hours!

New rear truck doors

Semi-trucks are all over our roads and interstates in large numbers. In our experience it's impossible to theses days to not be dwarfed as we drive side by side, front to back, with these huge trucks. Some day there may be new regulations on just how big these things will be allowed to get, but so far its longer, higher, wider.

But one thing has changed for many of these trucks and that is the style of the rear doors. They are now being fitted with quilted steel doors. "The quilted steel stops light from reflecting directly backwards. It breaks bright reflections and angles them away from drivers."

This is a good thing. If you are behind a big semi with the sun behind you, the bright light reflecting off the normal back doors is blinding. If they won't stop going bigger and bigger, at least they can stop the reflection.

The long ignored tally is back

With the Covid shut downs and all that went with it keeping my mind away from everything else, I'd forgotten to put up the current tally of the number of mattresses and ladders which have fallen on St. Louis highways this year. So here we go, as of today:

Mattresses 58  Ladders 83.

Quite a few actually.

The continual faded lane lines

Dale and I have been doing quite a bit of driving through and around St. Louis recently for one thing or another. One thing stood out constantly, especially if it was cloudy, dark or raining, and that was how poorly Missouri paints its lane lines. I've mentioned this before, but the more we drive over there, the more this stands out. I was driving home one night recently after our grandson's soccer game at Lutheran South High School in south county. It was a night game, therefore dark. The more we drove the more irritating and scary the highway became due to lane lines which seemed to just disappear.

Near downtown and all the construction work going on was even worse. It was not until we got into Illinois that things improved. Why is Missouri so terrible when it comes to making clearly painted lane lines? That state isn't great on snow or ice removal either, but that's a different story.

I keep remembering the gorgeous lane lines in Tennessee and Virginia when we traveled through. So beautiful I took photos.

Here is Tennessee, my personal favorite, even the side rails are glowing.

And Virginia, a close second

Road sign placements

Every now and then a stop sign or other road sign is placed too close to a driving lane. A few years ago I turned a corner across from Parker's Table wine shop next to St. Mary's Hospital in Clayton. As I turned I heard and felt a terrible noise and discovered I had sideswiped a new stop sign which was planted right at the corner's edge. The left side of our car was a mess and the sound and feel as I scraped across the sign was awful. I went into the wine shop told the owner, Jonathon Parker and asked him what I should do. He laughed. Laughed in a sympathetic way and told me I was not the first to do this, it had happened a lot.

We got the car fixed, but from then on when I went there I was very vigilant at that turn. But, Jonathon Parker was right and that sign or replacement signs were frequently hit at that point. Just recently when I went there I saw the latest sign event. It was on the ground after being hit once again.

Now there is a partner sign here in Collinsville which is seeing the same thing happening. Some entity, either the road people or the American Legion, recently put a big sign at the exit drive to their property to stop people from turning in there from Vandalia Street. The wording on this sign reads, Exit Only, Do Not Enter, or something to that effect. This means cars leaving the Legion are the only ones to use that drive and often turn right. But, as with the Parker's Table stop sign, this one is also placed in a bad spot for those turning out to the right. Living across from this parking lot I notice the daily things and this sign has been hit and bent over a couple of times in its short life. The first time I saw it I had a bad feeling about where it stood. Memories of the wine shop. And, I was right.

Here it is today.

I also believe I saw the car which hit it parked at the Legion today. There is no mistaking the awful scraping and other damage.