Per NBC DFW: A "mass casualty incident" on Interstate 35W just north of downtown Fort Worth,

[Eight]

question on this, are people not paying attention to either radio chatter or gps alerts about the pile up?

understand a large number of radio stations don't do traffic anymore, satellite radio wouldn't cover it, but are radios in the trailers no longer used to communicate to others on the road?

 

[BrewingFrog]

Sal hit it on the nose: The Aggies pretty much run TxDOT, so when there's a lot of dopey things done with traffic flow that make no sense whatsoever, blame an Aggie.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

My oldest brother worked for Tx DOT several years ago, at least I think it was them, and helped with the design of freeways. He quit after a few years because, as he put it, most of the engineers there were from A&M and they were the dumbest group of idiots he had ever worked with. He said you couldn't tell or suggest anything to them because they thought everyone else was stupid & beneath them if they didn't graduate from Aggieland. This clusterfudge at I-35W, 30, and 121 is a great example of that Aggie engineering.

I miss Texas freeways with a vengeance. These expressways in the north are the worst with their cloverleafs and stupidly designed on and off ramps. Every friggin intersection is different, some surface roads enter the freeway from the right, the next one might be the left. I hate complimenting Aggies but at least they came up with the feeder road direct access on and off ramps. Maybe Mississippi of the Midwest just can’t afford all that frontage...

Not to mention they think 4 wheel drive somehow is a benefit on ice. Snow yes, but only studded tires work on ice and are usually illegal.

 

[Chongo94]

More video from fb on this. Pretty shocking. Sorry I cannot post a video in a proper format.

Good god! When the third semi hits, my lord.

 

[Pharm Frog]

I miss Texas freeways with a vengeance. These expressways in the north are the worst with their cloverleafs and stupidly designed on and off ramps. Every friggin intersection is different, some surface roads enter the freeway from the right, the next one might be the left. I hate complimenting Aggies but at least they came up with the feeder road direct access on and off ramps. Maybe Mississippi of the Midwest just can’t afford all that frontage...

You enjoy the jug handles of NJ?

 

[Hoosierfrog]

You enjoy the jug handles of NJ?

I generally try to avoid New Jersey (what’s the deal with no self serve gas stations there!). I am, however a big fan of jugs...

We have some inanely designed thing called a Michigan left. You have to go thru the intersection to a light 1/4 mile past make a u turn go back and turn right. Just idiotic. It is supposed to preclude the need for a left arrow!?! To what benefit?

 

[frogs9497]

More video from fb on this. Pretty shocking. Sorry I cannot post a video in a proper format.

Can't image being pinned in that mess, just waiting for the next 18-wheeler to hit.

 

[frogs9497]

Good god! When the third semi hits, my lord.

That Toyota FJ (at 1:10min) totally crushed.

 

[bmoney214]

Its incredible that only 6 people were killed in that mess. 133 cars total according to the Dallas Morning News.

 

[Boomhauer]

More video from fb on this. Pretty shocking. Sorry I cannot post a video in a proper format.

Insane. Shouldn’t allow semis in toll lanes.

 

[bmoney214]

More video from fb on this. Pretty shocking. Sorry I cannot post a video in a proper format.

That [ Finebaum ] looks like real life bumper cars.

 

[Frog-in-law1995]

Sal hit it on the nose: The Aggies pretty much run TxDOT, so when there's a lot of dopey things done with traffic flow that make no sense whatsoever, blame an Aggie.

That stretch of 35 was designed, rebuilt and is owned (temporarily) by a company from Spain called Cintra.

 

[YA]

That stretch of 35 was designed, rebuilt and is owned (temporarily) by a company from Spain called Cintra.

Isn't a 20 year contract? We should all think governor perry for his contribution to this mess.

 

[PurplFrawg]

Whoever designed it clearly doesn’t have to use it. The north bound side right there isn’t much better as those merging on to 35 from 30 west have to cross two lanes in short order to not end up on 183 east. The whole thing needs to blown up and redone. But that will take a decade and untold billions.

My understanding, from a Star Telegram article, was that one of the engineers on the original Mixmaster design was fresh out of A&M and was on his first assignment. Then, years later, he was in charge of the remodel of that interchange as a final project before retirement. He must be so proud...

 

[Eight]

Isn't a 20 year contract? We should all think governor perry for his contribution to this mess.

scheissing dumbshit perry. between this and his directing state funds to keep a failed biomed venture run by college friends of his running he truly showed why it is good to have someone in office who has actually held a real job

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/foreign-company-now-owns-six-major-us-tolls-roads/

 

[Frog-in-law1995]

Isn't a 20 year contract? We should all think governor perry for his contribution to this mess.

I was thinking 50, but you might be right. I honestly can’t remember.

 

[BrewingFrog]

That stretch of 35 was designed, rebuilt and is owned (temporarily) by a company from Spain called Cintra.

I'll bet $1 that an Aggie designed it. Although, for fans of Fawlty Towers, the designer could be "from Barcelona."

 

[Realtorfrog]

Good god! When the third semi hits, my lord.

That’s the one that makes me cringe! All bad but the destruction from that one in frightening.

 

[Volare]

I live about a mile east of this mess. Just to clarify a few things:

This occurred in the managed toll lanes, both north and southbound. The maintenance of the managed toll lanes is not done by TxDOT, but rather by the private entity that profits from the usage of the toll road. The free TxDOT lanes had been brined and sanded and did not have anywhere near the problems seen in the video. Whether the toll lanes had been correctly treated will no doubt come out in discovery.

The Fedex truck in the video is traveling northbound which is actually uphill. So at least this portion of the debacle wasn't a downhill gravity issue.

The toll lanes are built with very high concrete barriers and no shoulders. Thus you get what you see here. Horrible design. The reason I-35W wasn't fixed and this toll garbage was done is because TxDOT has no money. This is one of many consequences of keeping the same state gas tax rate for more than 30 years.

 

[Moose Stuff]

I live about a mile east of this mess. Just to clarify a few things:

This occurred in the managed toll lanes, both north and southbound. The maintenance of the managed toll lanes is not done by TxDOT, but rather by the private entity that profits from the usage of the toll road. The free TxDOT lanes had been brined and sanded and did not have anywhere near the problems seen in the video. Whether the toll lanes had been correctly treated will no doubt come out in discovery.

The Fedex truck in the video is traveling northbound which is actually uphill. So at least this portion of the debacle wasn't a downhill gravity issue.

The toll lanes are built with very high concrete barriers and no shoulders. Thus you get what you see here. Horrible design. The reason I-35W wasn't fixed and this toll garbage was done is because TxDOT has no money. This is one of many consequences of keeping the same state gas tax rate for more than 30 years.

If it's uphill why can't he see the cars in front of him are stopped?