Thursday, December 29, 2016

High Winds Topple Semis on SD Freeway

I'm not sure how I missed this last week but I did. While we were fighting to shovel out from snow in time for Christmas here, in Wyoming they were fighting winds. Last week, high winds caused the Wyoming Department of Transportation to close westbound Interstate 80 from west of Laramie to Walcott due to multiple tractor-trailers being blown over.

Exactly how high of wind gusts do you have to have to blow over a semi truck? The DOT reported wind speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour that day. Even so, a lot of truckers and other drivers took their chances and went around the road closed signs. Many blew over or got in accidents as a result, with 80 crashes reported in a 24 hour period.

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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.