Corruption Hurts

On a recent drive back from the mid-west, on a tight 270 degree loop (top of map) a tractor-trailer ahead of me slowly keeled over sideways bounced over the Jersey barrier wall, and ended up wrecked on its side. The tractor was pulled over with the trailer, its lights all still burning, the engine still running, and diesel fuel poured out onto the grass and down onto the road. There was initially no sign of a driver. A small group of motorists quickly gathered, concerned that an injured driver might soon be incinerated. We banged on the cab, and the most agile guy pulled himself up by the cab roof lights and mirror mountings onto the ‘top’ of the cab which housed the passenger side door. He stood on the side of the engine cowling and yanked at the door handle. On about the third shot, he managed to open the door. There were two stunned guys inside the cab. The first emerged quite soon, dazed but only scratched and shaken up. He managed to pull himself up to the now open door and jumped off onto the grass unaided. The second, who must have been driving, had a badly broken lower left arm and had to be dragged and helped out. Two men up on the top helping had got him to ‘kill’ the engine and lights to reduce the danger of a fire. Everybody was gotten clear by the time police, fire and ambulance arrived. My guess is that the tractor was salvagable but the trailer was badly messed up. Perhaps the driver’s arm injuries were the most serious damage.

The wreck I witnessed, and others like it, can be directly laid at the feet of the Dishonorable Bud Shuster, the leading roads-shakedown operator in the US Congress. As documented by the WALL STREET JOURNAL (7/26/99 p1) Shuster blocked construction of a modern safe interchange between the Turnpike and I-70 in return for financial payments from merchants along the main street of Breezewood. At the behest of Shuster all the traffic between the Turnpike and I-70 – up to 15k veh/day – is forced to travel 3.2km (2mi) further, transit the length of the main street of Breezewood, and then endure traffic signals. This despite the fact that the spur adjacent to the Turnpike toll plaza passes directly over I-70, and a direct connection would involve a simple pair of ramps and no new bridgework or adjustments to the toll plaza. (See TRnl#41 July/Aug 99 p19)

The wreck occurred on a loop from the Turnpike heading away from the Breezewood toll plaza, over and onto the eastern end of the Breezewood commercial strip. It replaced a signalized intersection which had grown so incapable of handling the traffic that backups regularly extended 2.5km (1.5mi) to the end of the toll plaza. But the loop is at the end of a stretch of 70mph design speed motorway and is obviously dangerous.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission shares responsibility for this atrocity. In their annual report (heading p13) they misspell ‘Independent.’ Is that because the concept is alien? Their job is not to connive with corrupt politicians but to serve motorists, who deserve the right to choose whether they travel a commercial strip, or make a direct connection between the two major highways. The direct connection ramps (see sketch) could be built for less than the cost of a single serious wreck.