Car Culture was a Mistake Part 6: Roads

In my on-going tirade against Cars in America let's talk about the biggest drawback of using cars as the primary mode of transportation;  Roads.  

Where we're going we do need roads...

There are (as of 2017) supposedly 4 million miles of roads in the United States.  Of this, over 2,600,000 are paved by asphalt or concrete.  Roads are expensive to make and maintain and represent the biggest drawback to cars, because anything which disrupts clear well-maintained paved roads leads quickly to a cascading failure of travel.

And if you have to go off-road, well I don't recommend the CyberDalek because you can't fit a 4 ft tree in the bed and you can't get over a mild snowy incline without being pulled by a Ford F-150...

A single point of failure will snarl traffic and create hazards which leads to bad driving, accidents, and injuries.  In Chicago, this single point of failure can range from excessive snowfall, vehicle breakdowns, to general road disrepair and maintenance.  

Cars are "fantastic" modes of transportation... as long as everything goes correctly.  When a poorly maintained vehicle (whether through negligence, ignorance, heavy usage or lack of finances) breaks down in traffic that road quickly becomes an evil red line on google maps.  And woe be to the commuters caught in a massive accident, like the 100 car pile up on the highway between Beliot and Janesville or when a Wisconsin semi-truck wrecker driver leaves his trailer arm I an elevated position and takes out an underpass.

Or even worse most people don't think about what is transported on these roadways.  So if a careless speeding driver tries to pass in a no-passing zone and the semi-truck trailer which veeres is transporting Anhydrous Ammonia, people die;

On Friday, September 29, 2023, about 8:41 p.m. central daylight time, a 2005 International 9900ix truck-tractor in combination with a 1978 Mississippi Tank Company MC331 cargo tank semitrailer (combination vehicle), was traveling west on United States Highway 40 (US-40), a two-lane roadway near Teutopolis, Effingham County, Illinois. The combination vehicle was owned and operated by Prairieland Transport, LTD., of Brownstown, Illinois, and the cargo tank was loaded with approximately 7,500 gallons of UN1005, anhydrous ammonia, which is a Hazard Class 2.2 material and an inhalation hazard. [1] ​ 

At the same time, an oncoming eastbound vehicle was approaching the westbound combination vehicle, and a westbound passenger vehicle was passing the combination vehicle in a no-passing zone. The driver of the combination vehicle stated that to prevent a collision between the westbound passenger vehicle and the oncoming eastbound vehicle, he took evasive action by steering to the right. The combination vehicle departed the roadway and traveled into a shallow roadside drainage ditch. The truck-tractor struck the end of a 12-inch-diameter corrugated metal pipe culvert installed beneath a field entrance, and the combination vehicle jackknifed and rolled onto its right side with its cargo tank sliding forward. 

The exposed front end of the cargo tank struck the tow ring of a utility trailer that had been parked adjacent to the roadway on private property. The tow ring punctured the front of the cargo tank, which led to the release of anhydrous ammonia into the atmosphere as a toxic gas in the form of a white cloud.   

​​​​The driver of the combination vehicle sustained injuries as a result of the crash and exposure to the anhydrous ammonia gas. Additionally, five people in the area of the crash died and 11 others sustained injuries ranging from minor to severe due to their exposure to anhydrous ammonia. (From the NTSB Report October 25, 2023)

About the only thing I remember from the Hazmat training courses is Anhydrous Ammonia is incredibly dangerous and you'd better flee in the area.  Anhydrous Ammonia attacks and destroys membranes in the lungs, eyes, nose, mouth and so forth.  It's a fertilizer and is widely used in Illinois and other farming states.

The trailer carrying the Anhydrous was on that small narrow crumbling state road because I-70 is undergoing a massive rebuild due to multiple years of delayed maintenance 

This is part of the Rebuild Illinois program which according to the State,

Over the next six years, IDOT is planning to improve more than 2,500 miles of highway and nearly 10 million square feet of bridge deck as part of Rebuild Illinois, which is investing $33.2 billion into all modes of transportation. As of March 31, Rebuild Illinois has made $10.9 billion of improvements statewide on 4,913 miles of highway, 479 bridges and 709 additional safety improvements.

When I was in junior high I always recall everyone making the ridiculous comparison that highways weren't even XX years old and are constantly falling apart whilst the Pyramids are 2500 years old and still standing.  These type of trite factoids blew teenage minds.

Then there is the weather as the Chicago Winter approaches everyone is hoping the El Niño will bring diminished cold and snow fall because the snow exacerbates the already poor driving behavior, as I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't over-estimate their driving skill, underestimates the space needed to brake or avoid a situation in the road in front of them, and constantly overdrives the conditions.  The old joke is there are only two seasons in Chicago; Road Construction and Winter.

So, disrupt any one link on the chain or stress any of the single point of failure and things became very messy, very quickly and drivers already stressed, late, distracted, or angry become very, very dangerous.