Onyma Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 07:14PM
We have a bridge just outside of Toronto, the Burlington Bay Skyway, that they
close to trucks on some days due to this same issue. I've driven across many
times when the Skyway was closed to trucks and the wind buffeting the car makes
you wonder if you should be driving over too.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 07:53PM
That sort of thing happens frequently here, not the trucks blowing over so
often but the deal with cars being blown into the other lane and great
difficulty diving during wind storms and camper shells blow off pickup trucks.
It gets pretty scarey at times. This bridge is on US 101 and is pretty close to
the Pacific ocean. There is nothing to block the winds from the ocean there and
it is very common to have wind gusts in excess of 60mph during winter. The gusts
are not once in a while but nearly continuous when it gets bad, like boom boom
boom one right after the other. Several years ago there was a huge wind storm
with gusts like that over 80mp and in Newport (where I now live) and the roof
completely blew off of Izzy's Pizza located on a hill almost right at the shore.
Everyone started calling it Wazzi's Pizza after that for about a year until they
rebuilt it. A lot of buildings were damaged that year and power outages for days
and even weeks in some areas. Lots of trees to get blown over.
quasi Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 10:37PM
Hey, pro_junior, did you get a blowjob today?
The Sunshine Skyway bridge across Tampa Bay is sometimes closed due to high
winds. Of course, this is the new Sunshine Skyway, the southbound span of the
old bridge having been knocked down early one morning by a ship during a storm
in May of 1980, killing several motorists. The new bridge is probably the
highest point in Florida.
woberto Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 01:40AM
It would take gusts of over 400KpH to blow a truck over. The danger is the
sudden effect on the steering. Even if you had forearms like Popeye you couldn't
stop a truck swerving if you got hit side-on with a gust of 160KpH (100MpH).
They lower the speed limit automatically in Melbourne when it's windy.
Pussies!
90130_ Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 05:57AM
Ha! I got caught in a heavy wind just north of you on 101, Blah., on my
freakin' motorcycle. An 80+ mph continuous blast had me countersteering into it
so I could stay in my lane.
The effect was that the bike was almost dragging the footpeg 'cause it was
leaned over so far while still going straight ahead. Terrifying.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 03:10PM
Man that WOULD be scary as hell. I think you told me about that before. I would
NOT ride a bike in that kind of weather It's scary enough in a car!
Mrkim Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 03:18PM
Seems like if high winds are such a concern on these bridges common sense might
lead them to build high walls along the sides of the bridges to eliminate the
wind from causing problems to traffic.
'Course we all know using government projects/actions and common sense in the
same breath is kinda awkward at best so .... (headexplode)
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 03:29PM
During high wind warnings traffic is restricted on the bridges, the problem is
the weather is fairly unpredictable here. We might be forecast for say 30mph
winds with possible gusts to 60mph but Mother Nature likes to throw in a
80-100mph gust every so often for grins. IF they suspect that will happen they
will close the bridges. In this case that bridge was closed for around 3 hours
anyway because of the truck. A couple days ago it was pretty bad. The
mini-trampoline on our back porch was actually floating in the air for a second.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 25, 2011 04:22PM
i love mini tramp wrasslin'.
