Free Republic

There have been three crashes in about one month on the newly opened Interstate 11, resulting in four deaths and causing concern with transportation officials. Representing the first new portion of highway added in the United States in 25 years, I-11 is a 15-mile stretch linking motorists between the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge near the Hoover Dam and Henderson, bypassing Boulder City. The celebration of the newly opened road on Aug. 9 was short-lived. On Aug. 14, a two-vehicle crash left two men dead. On Aug. 28, a two-vehicle crash left two dead and three injured. On Sept. 6,...

Only two Idaho drivers have been cited for driving too slowly in the fast lane since the state’s new “slowpoke” law took effect July 1. Three other drivers got warnings that they better go the speed limit in the left lane or scoot over. Those numbers, current as of July 27, are from the Idaho State Police, which patrols the state’s highways. Tickets for speeding during that time frame — numbering 2,495 — far surpass these five cases of impeding fast-lane traffic. Even so, the new law gives troopers another tool to keep roads safer, said bill sponsor Rep. Lance...

Elizabeth Zemba of Mt. Pleasant, a daily Pennsylvania Turnpike traveler, turned to art and creativity to express frustration with the highway's ever-rising tolls. She created an Internet meme. A photo of a turnpike tollbooth is overlaid with the logo: "Pennsylvania Turnpike re-inventing highway robbery since 2009." For many, annual turnpike toll increases simply have become too much to bear. Two weeks ago, a coalition of truckers and motorists advocates filed a class action suit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, PennDOT and Gov. Tom Wolf, seeking to recoup "excessive fees" that went to underwrite projects other than the operation of the...

ABINGDON, Va. — Crashes in the construction zone around Interstate 81’s Exit 14 in Abingdon more than doubled between 2015, the year before the project started, and 2017, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. There were 67 crashes reported between Exits 10 and 17 in 2017, while the number of crashes in that stretch was 36 in 2015, according to the DMV. There were 72 crashes in 2016, the year the project began. Between Dec. 8-10, there were two accidents on that stretch of highway, including a one-vehicle crash that resulted in a fatality and a tractor-trailer that...

Angela Dean spends at least $200 a month to cover after-school care for her 5-year-old son. Getting back and forth to work — and making sure she picks him up in time — costs another $200 just in tolls.“If I didn't take toll roads, my commute would be an hour-and-a-half or more depending on traffic,” Dean said. “I get off work at 5:30 p.m. and I have to pick my son up by 6:30 or pay crazy late fees. When I take the toll roads, I get there with about 15 minutes to spare.”The North Texas suburbanite uses the President...

WASHINGTON — Maryland State Police want the public’s help bringing to justice a pickup truck driver who stabbed a man this week on MD 200 — the Intercounty Connector. The victim was a passenger in a white Chevy Silverado which was heading eastbound on the ICC, Wednesday afternoon, around 3:30. The incident began with a dispute between the drivers of the Silverado and a gray Ford pickup. The suspect then drove his gray truck on the shoulder to get around the white truck, according to police. On the ramp to northbound Interstate 95, as the Ford truck blocked the path...

VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - It's the interstate many of you have sworn to never travel again. Just this summer, Interstate 70 was the host of several horrific accidents, in a matter of days. But why is that? That is why we are taking a look into what makes I-70 so dangerous. ----------- They are the titans of the road; the giants of the interstate. They are semis. “…semis carry 80 thousand pounds of weight.” Big to all, scary to some. But to Corban Matney, they're a way of life. "Altogether, I've been driving about 30 years." As a semi-truck...

State officials intend to redirect highway funding to improve safety on Maine roads and stem a rising trend of injuries and deaths among pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.Changes to transportation funding follow the completion of a report by a state task force on roadway safety. The task force was commissioned in February by Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt in response to a rising trend of vehicle collisions, specifically pedestrian deaths. It released its report publicly on Friday. “We had a terrible year last year with fatalities on our road system,” said Joyce Taylor, chief engineer at Maine Department of Transportation. “That really...

Long-haul truckers, who spend weeks on end working and sleeping in spaces the size of a modest suburban bathroom, say life on the road does have its monastic charms. Cooking dinner at 70 miles an hour has never been one of them. ... Trucker-chefs swap recipes online and compete in virtual contests like the “Chopped Challenge” run by Big Truck Cooking, a 12,600-member Facebook group whose recent contest entries include slow-cooked Thai peanut pork and skillet shepherd’s pie.

HOUSTON -- Good news for drivers heading into Monday morning: Sam Houston Tollway's main lanes are now fully open in both directions. That means tens of thousands of commuters can now get back to their regular routes. But with the good news comes some bad news: Harris County Tolls will start up again Tuesday at 4 a.m. on all toll roads except for the section of Sam Houston Tollway between Highway 59 and Highway 290. Tolls will be waived because some feeder roads are still closed. Fort Bend County Tolls resume Monday. The toll way opening is a few days...

LAKE MEAD (FOX5) - A section of Interstate 11 opened Wednesday between the 95 and Railroad Pass Casino. But some drivers said they are having a hard time navigating it, thanks to a glitch from GPS technology. When a 2.5 mile stretch of I-11 opened, Apple and Google maps didn't register it. Instead, it caused a major glitch, and instead of routing people down the 95 toward Boulder City and Arizona, drivers were being redirected all the way through Lake Mead National Park. The route takes more time and also comes with a $20 toll. "I pulled over with all...

Please stop, I silently beg the three drivers heading down the on ramp to Interstate 70 from Washington Avenue. I’m driving parallel to them at 55 mph with a line of traffic behind me. I have my turn signal on signifying that I’m getting off at the exit just west of that on ramp. I cannot slam on my brakes and stop on the highway to allow these drivers to merge into my lane. Yet they keep coming down the ramp toward me. Fear has crept into my throat and I cannot scream if I wanted to. Don’t they understand...

When you're driving, there's a good chance you've seen someone on the phone, and maybe you've even been that person. Fifty-seven percent of American drivers admit to being on their phone while driving. Indiana Toll Road construction for the 80/90 Push project is just about halfway done. They expect to be finished July fourth, but in order to do that, they need workers to stay safe. So they're trying to cut down on those numbers. It really is difficult to put a dent in those numbers because we're all on-the-go. On top of that, you probably haven't met anyone who...

Bill Bertram frequently felt uneasy as cars whizzed past while he waited in traffic to reach the Tri-State Tollway's Grand Avenue exit ramp in Gurnee in the months after a $19.4 million reconstruction project was completed in 2015. Thoughts of being a sitting duck for a rear-end crash crossed his mind. Still, the 59-year-old Round Lake Beach resident said, driving north on the tollway to the westbound exit ramp was the most efficient option to head home from his Evanston job. On Nov. 16, at about 5:15 p.m., the rear-end crash he worried about happened. Bertram was stuck in a...

BERLIN — German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s political future is tied to the success of imposing a toll on foreign drivers using the country’s autobahns, and despite being slapped down by the European Commission he isn’t giving up on the idea.“The tolls are coming,” Dobrindt told the Bild newspaper on Friday, following news that the EU and Germany are about to settle their dispute over introducing the payments. “I am confident that we will be able to close negotiations with the EU Commission on a positive note in November.”Dobrindt told reporters he expected tolls to come into effect after national...

<p>Tweefie Millspaugh has a relatively short commute from her home in North Baltimore's Abell neighborhood to her job at a downtown law firm. Without traffic, she says, it takes about 15 minutes.</p> <p>But lately, the 54-year-old has found herself yelling fruitlessly in the driver's seat as she sits for 45 minutes on streets jammed by road closures across the city's center. After work, she waits again in a crawling line before finally inching out of her parking garage and into the gridlock.</p>

TOLEDO (13abc Action News) - Self-driving cars are getting closer to becoming a reality in America. Testing is underway in a few places around the country and if you travel the Ohio Turnpike, you'll soon be sharing the road with them. We spoke with drivers and the head of the Ohio Turnpike Commission about the testing. The autonomous vehicles could be on the turnpike by the end of the year. The Ohio Turnpike will be turned into a test track of sorts for the emerging technology. Randy Cole is the Executive Director of the Turnpike Commission, "It's 241 miles of...

When you get cut off, stuck behind a slow poke in the passing lane or see someone whizzing by at 90 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone, it's tradition to check the license plate and say, "No wonder--they're from such-and-such state."Now there's a study that gives credence to that claim.(snip)Here's a list of the worst, and the reasons why:1. Florida. Floridians Google "speeding tickets" and "traffic tickets" more than any other state. They also have the second lowest number of insured drivers in the nation.2. Mississippi. The state had the fifth-highest number of deaths resulting from auto accidents...

Multiple-fatality crashes in Utah road construction zones have drawn increased scrutiny to the inherent hazards of work areas and the lackadaisical attention many drivers pay to safety warnings there. “Despite all of our work with Zero Fatalities and safety messages, people are on their cell phones talking and texting and looking at other things,” said Vic Saunders, Utah Department of Transportation Region One spokesman. “Within the confines of construction zones, with narrower lanes and barriers that make it a little bit tighter, people are wavering back and forth, and the danger is magnified for everyone.” Utah road construction zone crashes...

MIAMI - Drivers throughout South Florida have said no matter where their daily commute takes them, they feel they're spending more money, more often on tolls. Local 10 News spoke to several drivers who said the tolls are another expense and don't necessarily help them reach their destination any faster. "Three hundred to four hundred (dollars) a month," Maribel Masvidal estimated she spends commuting from Homestead to her job in South Miami. "A lot of money that could be used on other things for my family." Masvidal said that commute can take her up to two hours one way on...