Snow decisions
A number of factors contribute to the move to close down highways
during bad weather
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 10:41 AM PST
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| Motorists cross the bridge over the Snake River into Oregon on Interstate 84 near Ontario as a message board — used to report traffic conditions ahead — looms over the freeway in the background. |
ONTARIO — For truckers, bus drivers and anyone else forced to navigate across Eastern Oregon’s highways, this winter season has presented a number of challenges, including snow and ice and road closures.
The decision to close the roads, though, actually rests in large part on the shoulders of the highway crews battling the ice and snow in the field behind the wheel of a snow plow.
There are conditional closures, which include wind, low visibility, drifting snow and whiteouts. Then there are incident closures, which are usually sparked by accidents, slide-offs, spin-outs and jack-knifed trucks, according to Tom Strandberg, Oregon Department of Transportation Region 5 spokesperson.
Communication is key to any formal closure, as road crews are in contact with each other and their supervisors about what they are seeing while they are working. While ultimate authority rests with maintenance supervisors or coordinators, road crews are often furnished with the authority to shut down a road if they see that conditions require it, usually in consultation with others, Strandberg said.
Once the decision is made, a dispatch center in Bend is notified and it will start to put the word out, posting the closure on Trip Check, on ODOT’s Web site or in the road reports accessed by phone. Message boards set up around the state are also used to inform motorists about road conditions ahead.
“Automatic gates drop in some places,” Strandberg said. Locally, freeway lanes are usually barricaded, as are freeway entrances. Those barricades are sometimes manned.
The actual blockages on Interstate 84 may be between Pendleton and La Grande.
“A lot of freeway closures are at Ladd Canyon,” Strandberg said. But, the freeway may be closed as far away as Baker City, as it was Monday, or sometimes all the way to Ontario. Road closures quickly evolve into safety issues, Strandberg said, as traffic — particularly trucks — can get backed up around freeway interchanges and fill up city streets.
About 10,000 trucks per day, or 45 percent of the vehicles, travel the state’s highways and traffic can build up quickly when the roads are closed, he said.
Supervisory personnel coordinate the extended closures from area to area after driving around and sizing up the situation, Strandberg said.
Because of the communication out on the road, the crews have an idea what is happening over a wide area, Strandberg said. “When a closure is called, that is not the first time they have heard about it.”
Before starting out, motorists should check road conditions on the ODOT Web site, under Trip Check or call 5-1-1 in Oregon for Oregon roads. Dialing 5-1-1 in Idaho gets an Idaho road report, Strandberg said, and he reminds people to have proper traction tires and devices and be prepared to stop for long periods of time.
