I-5 Safety Barrier Cables

[kenboy]

Anyone get warm and fuzzy feelings when you drive I-5 and see the cables in the median intended to stop cross-over crashes? I was five seconds from getting hit head on this morning by the Hut bus that crashed through the cables and crossed all lanes of I-5 Northbound between Brooks and Woodburn.
It was a miracle that the bus, heading South, shot across the median and through the cable barriers and missed traffic in all three lanes Northbound before rolling. The bus drug the cables across North bound lanes and they were still wrapped around the front of the bus.
I was one of the first civilians to respond, grabbed my fire extinguisher and ran to the motor area where fuel was pouring onto the hot motor and exhaust. We had no idea how many people were on the bus but people were busting out the windshield to free the driver and opening emergency exit doors. There was only two passengers and the driver and they were all evacuated within minutes.
What good are these safety barriers if they don't even slow down a bus or worse yet a loaded semi-truck?
As I was leaving I asked the male passenger who was sitting on the side of the road if a car had side swiped the bus to cause it to lose control and he said that he saw the driver reach to the floor to pick up his water bottle when he lost control of the bus.
BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD

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[Stomper]

 

[rick benjamin]

Ken
You are a sheepdog (a good thing)!
Thanks for stepping up to reduce the disaster, excellent thinking and follow through!
Glad you and everyone came out ok!

As to the divider cables
They were a good idea at the time
Probably haven't been serviced, tightened since installation.

Vehicles have vaulted the Storie barriers.

Maybe tiny busses, trucks?

 

[CoastRange57]

Specified by state engineers and then provided and installed by the lowest bidder. Apparently very little testing done.

ODOT repaved a section of Hwy 47 at B Street south of Forest Grove almost 2 weeks ago, and just did not bother to restripe the intersection for over 100 yards, AT ALL. I contacted them with no response.

So yesterday some fog in a Prius makes a left hand turn into the south bound lane and cuts the gap between a sign post and garbage truck. I called ODOT out on Facebook and they sent some drone out with a couple cans of paint and reflector flaps to make some half axx markings.

If a private contractor had done that job it would have had to have been re -striped right away, but since it was an ODOT job, no such need. The hell with the safety of the driving public.

 

[PDXSparky]

I drive Salem to PDX 4 to 5 days a week for work. I've seen more than a couple of cars stopped by those cables. I'm happy they are there. I just don't think they are rated for something as heavy, going as fast as those big HUT buses go. I'm sure the cables wouldn't stop a semi either.

One time, before the cables were installed, I was driving to work when all of a sudden a single wheel bounced thru the bushes and rolled across all 3 lane right in front of me. No ideal where it came from either. Pretty sure the cable would have stopped it.

 

[bolus]

is that what caused the huge traffic jam near Salem today?

 

[Stomper]

Is there a DOCTOR in the house?!

 

[The Heretic]

With enough mass it is really difficult to stop a fast moving object like a bus or truck. I have seen more than once the results of a truck plowing through the concrete barriers and take out cars on the other side - although they do seem to be more effective than cable when the median is level or elevated above the road surface.

Motorcycle riders shudder when they see cable barriers as they are deadly to them although hitting a concrete barrier isn't something I would relish either (I almost did once, but I was lucky and I was tossed the opposite direction somehow).

Everything is a compromise of cost and effectiveness. Would you rather have nothing? We used to have nothing in most medians.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Anyone get warm and fuzzy feelings when you drive I-5 and see the cables in the median intended to stop cross-over crashes? I was five seconds from getting hit head on this morning by the Hut bus that crashed through the cables and crossed all lanes of I-5 Northbound between Brooks and Woodburn.
It was a miracle that the bus, heading South, shot across the median and through the cable barriers and missed traffic in all three lanes Northbound before rolling. The bus drug the cables across North bound lanes and they were still wrapped around the front of the bus.
I was one of the first civilians to respond, grabbed my fire extinguisher and ran to the motor area where fuel was pouring onto the hot motor and exhaust. We had no idea how many people were on the bus but people were busting out the windshield to free the driver and opening emergency exit doors. There was only two passengers and the driver and they were all evacuated within minutes.
What good are these safety barriers if they don't even slow down a bus or worse yet a loaded semi-truck?
As I was leaving I asked the male passenger who was sitting on the side of the road if a car had side swiped the bus to cause it to lose control and he said that he saw the driver reach to the floor to pick up his water bottle when he lost control of the bus.
BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD

Glad you like them I spent 5 months of night work from Salem to Harrisburg drilling holes every 10ft and never wish to do it again. A good night we would drill and pour around a mile of the barrier pockets.

The stuff the bus hit was the older low tension style cable, as far as i know ODOT is going to all high tension type barrier, everything from Salem south is tensioned to about 6k pounds at 40 degrees outside temperature and rated to a large box van type hit.

 

[jbett98]

Go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[kenboy]

Glad you like them I spent 5 months of night work from Salem to Harrisburg drilling holes every 10ft and never wish to do it again. A good night we would drill and pour around a mile of the barrier pockets.

The stuff the bus hit was the older low tension style cable, as far as i know ODOT is going to all high tension type barrier, everything from Salem south is tensioned to about 6k pounds at 40 degrees outside temperature and rated to a large box van type hit.

Thanks for the update. Good to know that the newer cable network may help to stop cross over accidents with big rigs.

 

[kenboy]

With enough mass it is really difficult to stop a fast moving object like a bus or truck. I have seen more than once the results of a truck plowing through the concrete barriers and take out cars on the other side - although they do seem to be more effective than cable when the median is level or elevated above the road surface.

Motorcycle riders shudder when they see cable barriers as they are deadly to them although hitting a concrete barrier isn't something I would relish either (I almost did once, but I was lucky and I was tossed the opposite direction somehow).

Everything is a compromise of cost and effectiveness. Would you rather have nothing? We used to have nothing in most medians.

I don't claim to be an expert on methods to stop cross over accidents. I agree that these cables are better than nothing, just trying to make people aware of the ongoing possibility of such accidents.

 

[Sstrand]

Isn't it obvious? . . . Water bottles should be outlawed . . .

Sheldon

 

[Stomper]

Isn't it obvious? . . . Water bottles should be outlawed . . .

Sheldon

If only they had some sort of Bluetooth device for them!

 

[oknow]

Well they do stop the cops from crossing over to give you a ticket

 

[tunus]

As a motorcycle rider, I hate those cables. Believe it or not, the concrete blocks are safer, but also more expensive. My brother-in-law is a chief highway engineer for a major Canadian contractor and he's mentioned these cables are not as safe as the concrete blocks and he has never approved any project utilizing the cables. Unfortunately, his superiors in their relentless pursuit for lower cost have overwritten him a few times.

 

[PiratePast40]

I have also seen cars stopped by the cables. One time, I saw a Jeep get stuck in the cable. It almost flipped over front to back. The cables and shrubbery help absorb energy but, from what I understand, are not designed for heavy vehicles. I saw the article and the author made mention of plans to install concrete barriers on I-5 to replace most of the cable.

I've ridden the HUT shuttle back and forth between PDX and Salem more times than I can count, so this one hits home for me.

 

[bellarum]

I was headed northbound around Wilsonville right after they started installing them and was being held up because of a head on crash. As I approached the crash scene I could see that the south bound lanes were at a higher elevation than the north bound lanes and that the south bound vehicle had been travelling fast enough to clear the cable fence and skip into oncoming traffic. Another poorly designed project.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Isn't it obvious? . . . Water bottles should be outlawed . . .

Sheldon

i agree. Universal background checks for the purhase of ALL bottled water WILL keep them out of bad drivers floorboards

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Much depends on the angle the vehicle hits the cables at.

kenboy, really glad that you are unharmed! Good job being a first responder!!!