I literally passed that truck moments before, taking the siding for that train, and I remember thinking, " I've never seen a semi on that road before." [emoji23] Guess that's why.
I'm not sure. I bet they're on the hook for damages though. The wreck took out the eastbound overhead signals and delayed several trains.
Not far from where I live is the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is a small windy road going from the Valley floor up to the Parkway. It is closed to 18-wheelers. There are big signs saying: "Closed to 18-wheelers," and "An 18-wheeler cannot make it to the top of the mountain" and "Warning, no big tractor trailers."
It has 8 empty cars of various types (tank, box, intermodal, covered hopper) and it stops in various cities for clinics in handling rail specific emergencies, like you said.
I would hope so. I would imagine he loses his job and I certainly wouldn’t hire him to drive for me.
Same thing happens on Bankhead Parkway, coming up the north end of Monte Sano, if you remember it. They ignore the "length restricted" signs at the bottom and charge on up. Then, they get to the hairpin at the turn onto Fearn to finish the climb and no 18 wheeler can make it. They then have to detach the cab tractor and swing the trailer around with heavy equipment, probably what they had to do with the guy you encountered. I think all those crossroads on the Parkway are like that. They were all there before they put the Parkway in. I've pedaled from Cherokee to the NC/VA line but I didn't make it to Front Royal and probably never will now. My first attempt, I quit on Mt. Mitchell and took the side road down to Burnsville, where I stayed a night before biking back down to Asheville. It was like that - tight as hell at the top and then sort of straightening out as I continued along the river. The configuration of US 276 where it crosses right at the Pisgah Inn and the others I've been on are similar. At least 18 wheelers can make it up and over 276. I've always loved the feel of freedom which comes from backpacking or biking like that. You're on your own. Everything you need, for a period of time, at least, is on your back or on your bike. If you pull off on the bike or cross a road and stop with a pack, you always get interesting questions from the tourists...
We have that same problem near me with a low bridge on the main line here in Philly. The underpass was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad over 100 years ago and only has about 12 feet of clearance. The GPS loves to send trucks on this road and the drivers love to follow it.
I was navigating around Orangeburg SC last week and my iPhone wanted me to go down an orange dirt/clay road. I looked at it and said, "Uh, no," and continued down the paved road I was on. It turns out that I was approaching a four-way intersection at which I was supposed to turn right and the clay road was the hypotenuse of that right triangle.
www.11foot8.com
The same situation where the road crosses under the rr tracks in Ardmore, if you get off the interstate to come to HSV. It has the clearance clearly marked on it, but it's very scarred up...
Amen! And sometimes even human advice. I got lost in Austria one, east Tirol. I kept asking for directions and they all ended up with "nicht über die Brücke" (not over the bridge). After a three trips through the woods and a lumberyard, I took the bit in my teeth and went over the bridge anyway. On the last round, I saw their shortcut - a double track through a corn field. On one trip through the woods, I asked a wood cutter for directions. The answer - "Ich bin Yugoslawien."
