I don’t know who “Trucker Mike” is, but I’m grateful to him just the same for answers to questions like this one: Why do truckers so often insist on passing each other on the freeway, blocking cars behind them?
That’s an awkward place for a bike lane to end, and apparently I’m not alone in thinking so. Someone made the same point to the Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission.
Here’s what I was talking about a few days ago, when I was singing the blues about trucks on the interstate passing each other and taking their sweet time about getting back in the right lane.
Without trucks we wouldn’t eat, or have many of the things we do have. I know that. Truckers are making a living. I know that too. But do they really have to pass each other all that much, holding up the rest of the traffic on I-5?
From the photos I took Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, it’s tempting to conclude that raising the speed limit for trucks by 5 miles an hour has cleared Interstate 5 of 18-wheelers. Obviously not, but still …
The median cable barrier installed on Interstate 5 a year ago is working, judging by this Oregon State Police photo Monday. Now if we could only get drivers to pay constant attention, the barrier and other preventative measures would be needed less often.
Congestion on I-5: What can be done?
While we’re on the topic of highways (see the previous story), here’s some gratuitous advice. If you don’t have to be on I-5 north of Albany these summer days, don’t go. The road is too full, and stop-and-go traffic in places is the result.
Tags: autonomous vehicles, Interstate 5, ODOT, Oregon highways, toll roads, traffic congestion