Lost load of lumber

[LCHIEN]

Had to take a detour on the way home tonight. The usual freeway interchange exit was blocked by a jack-knifed 18-wheeler flat bed that spilled its load of what looked to me to be 2x6's. There were none on the road next to the 18-wheeler, but they carpeted the grass and the small trees to the left (outside) of the curve. The ones that got through the grove of trees were broken.

A lot of boards. What a waste of lumber.

[Cochese]

How many did you manage?

[ironhat]

I wonder what they do with that lading? The insurance company probably sells it for salvage? Back in my younger years I was a r.road mechanic (Penn Central) and would get called out on mainline wrecks. Speed was the word and if it couldn't be moved easily it was crushed up with D-9 CATs and pushed off to the side. I saw them destroy wedding gowns, Girl Scout cookies, office equipment, lawn chems and more. Usually this happened at night - yeah, it would - and all the locals came out to watch. They were like rats around the grainery, stealing what was safe to get away with. One night three covered hoppers of corn split with one standing on end and the truck hanging from the center pin 40 or so feet overhead and us working under it. That's 300 TONS of corn spilled on the tracks, being pushed around by three CATs. By morning there wasn't a bit left. Somehow, they managed to get a lot of it out of the ballast.

[cabinetman]

I've seen a few lost loads here...trucks winging it on an off ramp. They might just salvage what is still good.

.

[woodturner]

ironhat's comments remind me of a joke:

A truck driver, hauling a tractor-trailer load of computers, stops for a beer. As he approaches the bar, he sees a big sign on the door that says, "COMPUTER NERDS NOT ALLOWED - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!" He enters and sits down.

The bartender comes over to him, sniffs, and says that he smells kind of nerdy. He then asks him what he does for a living. The truck driver explains to him that he drives a truck, and the smell is just from the computers he is hauling. The bartender serves him a beer and says, "OK, truck drivers aren't nerds."

As he is sipping his beer, a skinny guy walks in wearing a pair of glasses with tape around the middle, a pocket protector with twelve kinds of pens and pencils, and a belt that is at least a foot too long. The bartender, without saying a word, pulls out a shotgun and blows the guy away. The truck driver asks him why he did that.

The bartender replied, "Don't worry. The computer nerds are in season because they are overpopulating Silicon Valley. You don't even need a license."

So the truck driver finishes his beer, gets back in his truck, and heads for the freeway. Suddenly, he veers to avoid an accident, and the load shifts. The back door breaks open and computers spill out all over the road. He jumps out and sees a crowd already forming, snatching up all of the computers. The scavengers are comprised of engineers, accountants and programmers - computer geeks. Each of them wearing the nerdiest clothes he has ever seen.

He can't let them steal his whole load. So remembering what happened in the bar, he pulls out his gun and starts blasting away, killing several of them instantly. A highway patrol officer comes zooming up and jumps out of the car screaming at him to stop.

The truck driver said, "What's wrong? I thought computer nerds were in season."

"Well, sure," says the patrolman, "But you can't bait 'em!"

[Richard in Smithville]

This happened on the Hwy near me yesterday. http://www.niagarathisweek.com/news/...ls-qew-traffic

They said it resembled a tossed salad!

[LCHIEN]

there was a picture and video at KHOU here
of the wreck:

[cabinetman]

Five six pick up sticks

.

[dbhost]

there was a picture and video at KHOU here
of the wreck:

Where is that? Looks like NW 610 perhaps?

[LCHIEN]

Where is that? Looks like NW 610 perhaps?

I59 Southbound exit to N Loop 610 Westbound

[dbhost]

Could be worse. Could be a gasoline tanker like what flipped over under 610 by 59 SW oh I guess it was 10 years or so ago now... Burned so hot there was damage to the concrete of the overpass... It amazes me how easily some truck drivers forget about centrifugal force...

[Brian G]

That's a lot of BT3Central 2 x 6 contest material.

[LCHIEN]

Could be worse. Could be a gasoline tanker like what flipped over under 610 by 59 SW oh I guess it was 10 years or so ago now... Burned so hot there was damage to the concrete of the overpass... It amazes me how easily some truck drivers forget about centrifugal force...

That was Sept 7, 2004.

some time before that in the 80's I think there was an liquid ammonia truck went from SW freeway 59 North bound onto W610 northbound ramp, They think he fell asleep and went over the railing and landed on the 59 main lanes. Killed a whole bunch of people who drove right into him then proceeded to kill and maim a bunch of people who stopped short but inhaled the ammonia with serious lung burns. Sam intersection as you mention. The grass was dead all around the interchange for months after the accident.
That was 5/26/1976.

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