US 44

I’ve written previously about the runaway truck ramp being built on US44 in Avon in the wake of a couple of nasty accidents. It’s open for business.

From the Courant:

Construction on the $2.8 million project—the first of its kind in Connecticut—began Nov. 19 and required the seizure of five properties, including two homes, according to state officials. A ban on trucks over 13 tons that has been in effect since September on the stretch of Route 44 traversing the mountain will be lifted with the opening of the ramp.

The idea for such a ramp, a series of nets and cables that slow down and eventually stop a truck, was proposed in 2005 after a horrific truck crash killed four and injured 11, capturing national headlines.

Meanwhile, regular traffic enforcement of that stretch of US 44 is still somewhere between slim and none.

I wonder if the state will finally realize that it needs to do something more substantial about the underbuilt transportation infrastructure in/around Hartford the first time a runaway truck driver fails to use the ramp.

In the wake of a couple of spectacular accidents on US 44 between Avon and West Hartford (”Avon Mountain”, featuring up to a 10% grade going over a local ridge), which lead to trucks being banned from that stretch of highway, ConnDOT is finally getting around to building a truck runaway ramp. From the Courant:

Construction started Monday on a runaway truck ramp that transportation officials hope will prevent, in part, crashes that have plagued a dangerous stretch of Route 44 at the base of Avon Mountain.[...]

Carpenter initially hoped the $2.8 million ramp would be completed by January, when a state ban on trucks weighing more than 13 tons using that stretch of Route 44 is slated to end.

But the ramp is now expected to be finished on April 30, which will likely prompt the state to continue the ban and keep large trucks off the mountain for an even longer period.

One westbound lane of Route 44 is closed due to the construction, just in time for fun wintertime commuting on the mountain, as well as increased traffic as folks go over the mountain and through the woods to grandmother’s house (or wherever) for Thanksgiving.

Avon Mountain includes some of the area’s most expensive residential developments. As you might expect, the eminent domain procedures aren’t going all that well. Again quoting the Courant:

The state offered to pay Kathleen Conran, 76, $425,000 for her house and her 2.9 acres of property. She rejected the offer, state officials say, and has previously said that she and her husband built the house 40 years ago with painstaking care, adding such details as wood flooring taken from a house built in the 1700s. Nursick said Conran will stay in her house until the end of December.

Hunter’s Run Condominiums rejected $3,900 for 1,558 square feet of land.

And, finally, Avon Old Farms Inn, a popular restaurant at the base of the mountain, has rejected an offer of $1,015,000 for a 5,288-square-foot piece of its property.

So, is it cynical for me to speculate that the next runaway truck incident will occur shortly after the ramp opens…and that the ramp might not get used for some reason or another (lack of driver education…runaway eastbound…)?

Friday saw an incident that’s become too common in Avon, Connecticut—a runaway truck plowed into a furniture store after having apparently lost its brakes going over the 8-10% grade ridge between West Hartford and Avon on US 44. Had the driver not swerved, it could have been an almost-repeat of an accident a few years ago, where a runaway dump truck plowed into a commuter bus.

According to the Courant, Governor Rell is pushing for a truck ban on Avon Mountain, which would surely aggravate traffic on other hilly roads crossing that ridge.

Personally, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this adds more fuel to prior legislative debate on adding photo radars to US 44. And, in the office I telecommute from, we have an informal pool going on how long police speed enforcement will be stepped up. After the bus crash, police were visible for only 3 or 4 days, before the status quo returned.

Several months ago, there was a nasty multi-car vehicle crash down the road from my local office. Essentially a heavy truck lost its breaks at the top of Avon Mountain, and rolled down US 44 into Avon, plowing head-first into rush-hour traffic, including a commuter bus.

After the accident there was quite a bit of ruckus about making Avon Mountain safer, including the posting of new, larger warning signs, the construction of “police ticketing areas”.and then not much else seems to have happened. Folks still seem to like to push 50-60 on the mountain, and cops are seemingly nowhere to be seen whenever I drive that stretch of road.

However, this Insurance Journal article reminds us that not everyone’s forgotten:

After a yearlong investigation, the owner of the runaway dump truck that slammed into a group of cars at the bottom of Avon Mountain in Connecticut a year ago has been charged with manslaughter.

David Wilcox, 71, who ran American Crushing & Recycling, was arrested at his Windsor home Sunday night.

In addition to four counts of manslaughter, Wilcox was charged with assault, tampering with evidence, fabricating evidence, interfering with police, and 23 motor vehicle violations. Those include having defective brake parts on the truck, which went out of control while heading westbound down Avon Mountain on July 29, 2005.

This article in today’s Hartford Courant caught my eye:

Police were out in force [on US 44 at Avon Mountain] Friday morning and evening in an effort, called Operation Rush Hour, to reinforce the need for motorists to drive carefully and stay within the speed limit.

Officers who are pulling motorists over on the mountain roadway are handing out copies of a police department flier that reminds drivers to stay in their lanes, and avoid tailgating and speeding.[...]

After next week, friendly persuasion is likely to give way to a ticketing campaign. “Then we’ll take a pretty aggressive approach,” Rinaldo said.

Since a July 29 dump truck crash that killed four people at the base of the mountain, local and state officials have paid increased attention to improving traffic safety on the steep, curving stretches of Route 44 on the mountain in Avon and West Hartford. The ongoing rush-hour police effort is part of that response.

It should be noted that Avon and West Hartford police have been largely absent from Avon Mountain, with the exception of a few days after that accident, allowing BMW’s, Expeditions, and dump trucks to careen around the tight corners of US 44 at 50-60mph, in most forms of weather.

Most of the attention so far has been in replacing signage on the mountain with bigger signs, constructing pull-out areas for the absent constables to use if they’d actually enforce the speed limits.

Oh, and lets not forget that the Governor and ConnDOT have been using last July’s accident as an excuse to bring photo-radar speed enforcement to the state.

With the Krispy Kreme closed, you’d think that additional police resources would have been freed up to…oh, I don’t know…actually enforce safety laws.

From today’s Courant:

The governor said Monday she’ll propose legislation to double traffic fines on Avon Mountain as a means of slowing drivers and punishing those who break motor vehicle laws.

Doubling fines, however, may only be the first step in an effort to crack down on drivers who speed and break motor vehicle laws as they traverse the mountain.

Also under consideration is a proposal to install video cameras that would captures images of cars and their license plates, enabling tickets to be issued even when a police officer is not around, officials said Monday.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Hartford area, Avon Mountain is a fairly large ridge several miles to the west of of Hartford. US 44 crosses Avon mountain, providing a major commute route from Avon and other suburbs to the west-northwest of the city into West Hartford and Hartford. US 44 also features a winding route complete with 8-10% grades, a high rate of spectacular fatal accidents, and an almost universal love of exceeding the speed limit by 20-30 miles per hour.

While under normal circumstances, I share the majority view that speed limits are frequently set too conservatively, contributing to drivers’ disregard…. I’d agree that on Avon Mountain, speeding is a chronic problem.

A lack of traffic enforcement is also a chronic problem on Avon Mountain. Avon and West Hartford local police will patrol the mountain for a few days after an accident, or after a media report on the mountain….but otherwise…nothing.

And before someone thinks of mentioning it — yes, the state’s also looking into other safety measures in addition to just speed enforcement. For example, variable message signs, a painted median with rumble strips, etc. are mentioned in the article, and several months ago, the state replaced signage on the mountain with new, big, highly visible warning signs.

Photo radar would make a lot of sense for Avon Mountain. However, I worry that while it makes sense here, introduction of photo radar would start the slide down the slippery slope of privacy erosion by incenting the use of photo radar in other areas, particularly areas where irrational speed limits exacerbate the speeding problem.