respublica

Lying down on the highway to end the week

A mattress in the St. Charles area.

Mattresses 40

Ladders 37

This morning I saw a news story on a ladder flying off a truck and right into the window of the car behind it. The car had a dash cam running and caught it all. Very frightening.

Worst highway idea?

Elon Musk, the electric car guru of Tesla fame, has proposed and idea to alleviate traffic congestion on the DC to Baltimore route. He wants to see two 35 mile tunnels built along that distance. He's calling it a hyperloop. Hyperloop passengers traveling in autonomous Teslas would shoot through vacuum tubes in pods traveling more than 600 miles per hour, according to Musk’s tunneling venture, the Boring Company.

All I can say is, This is crazy talk. Now, I'm not the most creative of thinkers and could be wrong, but wow, just think of all the things which could wrong, not to mention having this loop for electric cars means very few commuters could actually use it. And, what about accidents? How long would people be stuck inside these tubes while waiting for tow trucks or clearing? And, if they opened it up to normal gas fueled cars, wouldn't carbon monoxide be a danger?

He figures about 1000 cars a day would use these tubes initially which really won't help the congestion brought on by the normal 120,000 cars on the Baltimore/Washington parkway.

In the end, it looks like a way Musk hopes to sell more of his cars.

Missouri needs a map like this

Frost free

Eastbound 64/40 near Ballas, a refrigerator was in the lanes. Now this is a bit of highway debris you wouldn't want to come across.

New week, new tally

Mattresses 39

Ladders 36

Ladders are catching up

This is one of those weeks when...

I am having trouble figuring out just what day it is. So many things are being crammed into each day that each day seems two days long. But, yes, it's Wednesday. I'm pretty sure. Today will be no different with the added forecast of up to 45 miles per hour winds this afternoon. After seeing how wind can take down big trees, I'm not comfortable with windy forecasts.

And as an update for this week:

Mattresses 38

Ladders 32

One of each has fallen already this week.

End of the week numbers

Unless something falls the rest of the day, the final numbers for the week are:

Mattresses 37

Ladders 31

A ladder fell during last evening's rush hour on 70

Another tally

Mattresses 37

Ladders 30

This mattress along I-44 near route 100

I missed a couple of ladders this week and one fell on 64 and a second on 44.

Early morning drop

A ladder fell already this morning on 270 at 55

Mattresses 36

Ladders 28

Morning traffic report

This notice from Y98's traffic reporter, Lance Hildebrand, had me pondering just what the heck this was all about. Seeing as it was in Collinsville I was pretty interested. He said, "Along westbound 55/70 near HWY 159 near Collinsville, a report of a person laying in the grass near the highway."

Also an update:

Mattresses 36

Ladders 27