My goodness. It’s only been a year since the first post here on Frac Sand Frisbee. What a year it has been. Not being a big one for reflection about the past I’ll leave it at that. But to commemorate FSF’s 1st birthday, here’s a neat video.
I’ve been hoping to follow a semi over the Praag Valley dugway (Highway 88 just north of Laehn Ridge Road) ever since I started obsessing about this issue. For me, the safety of that road was the core issue that got me into this conversation in the first place. I finally lucked out last week — a truck came in right in front of me, my phone was charged up, the light was right and I didn’t crash my car keeping up with the driver of the truck.
Somewhere in the spring the Wisconsin DOT did a preliminary study that indicated that there are geometry issues with that segment of Highway 88, so what you’ll see in this video should come as no surprise. There is no way that any driver, no matter how skillful, can take a truck over that piece of road without either crossing the center line or going on the shoulder — that’s the geometry issue the DOT is talking about. The road has curves that are too sharp for semi trucks.
Combine that with the steep drops and lack of guardrails and you have a recipe for bad news. There’s no room for error — no “flinch” room to quote a member of the DOT staff.
I’m really glad I could finally get actual video of this. Imagine this fellow coming around a corner and confronting a combine, or an RV, or a group of motorcyclists. There’s nowhere to go.
Happy New Year — see you again in 2013.
Mikey