A Traffic Nightmare

UPDATING: I-10 east-bound is again a parking lot; this time an SUV loaded with 2 adults and 6 children rolled across all lanes at an off-ramp. One person thrown from the vehicle; the rest had to be cut out.
______________
Traveling through the CV on I-10, few drivers are aware that there are limited opportunities to exit the I-10 to avoid highway congestion. In spots, there is a frontage road, but it's not connected the length of the freeway, especially where there are gaps between towns. This week, the interstate's worst nightmare occurred when there was a fatal accident on one of the east-bound off-ramps, another fatal accident on the westbound and a third fatal accident on the east bound, all occurring on the same day within a 12-hour time span.

The first fatality occurred coming into PS on the Highway 111 option, when a work truck towing a flatbed trailor lost the trailer, which hurtled across the lanes and into an oncoming passenger vehicle, killing the driver instantly. The accident required both sides of the roadway to be closed, which backed traffic onto the east-bound I-10 lanes. While that accident was being investigated and cleaned up, out on I-10, a big rig trucker evidently fell asleep at the wheel and flipped, ejecting the driver and spilling his load of fertilizer across all west-bound lanes. Again, investigation of the fatality, as well as the hazmat clean-up, and now both east and west bound lanes were impacted. However, because this second accident involved a hazmat clean-up, traffic was parked on the I-10, with traffic backed up for approximately 12 miles.

Just as the first accident scene cleared and the second accident scene was beginning to clear (it takes hazmat a REALLY long time to respond and then clean up a spill), a third accident occurred when a stolen catering van tried to evade a person in a POV following it east-bound from the crime scene. The driver of the stolen van panicked, sped up in all the traffic congestion, and with nowhere to go to evade the pursuer, hit 2 cars caught in the jam, sent one into the guard rail and then over the embankment, killing the driver in the process. The driver of the stolen van fled the scene, which added another dimension to the event: chasing the suspect.

What was a bad situation worsened exponentially and became what the national media is calling a "perfect storm!"

There was no "take the next off ramp" because there are so few alternatives, especially alternatives that go anywhere. Adding to the crisis was the loss of both radio and cell phone signals, although "no one" knows why that situation developed. People who were stuck had no idea why or for how long, so other issues became critical: fuel, water, food, and toilet needs. People heading to the outlet mall for holiday shopping probably did not plan on being stopped on a freeway for 12 hours!!

This area sits on a massive earthquake fault that is quite active: it is a rare day that the area does not have a quake. Thankfully, most of the shakers are 4.0 or lower on the Richter Scale, but we are promised that a big one is headed our way. If/when that happens, there is no escape route, which means there also are limited alternatives for the responders. First and foremost, there has to be solid 24/7 communication, not intermittent areas that black-out all forms of contact with the outside world. Secondly, the infrastructure must address the worst-case scenario and provide alternate routes in case of disaster. Recalling 9-11, if the bridges and tunnels had been compromised, terrorists would have controlled New York and the high density population trapped therein. Finally, emergency responders have to be able to access the accident scene not just to provide emergency care, but also to allow the clean-up crew access to the area so the accident can be removed, as well as any haz mat associated with it. The roadblocks in these 3 accidents effectively shut down any access to the scenes -- except from the other side of the freeway, and that option was negated when crashes occurred on both sides of the center divider.

The media all the way to the nation's capitol are calling this "perfect storm" yet another example of what can go wrong, and sooner or later seems to do so. With the attention drawn to the problem, it's a fair question to ask whether solutions are going to be found, or simply lamented.