Fwd: Re: 95 & 8 + ID Traffic

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Subject:     Re: 95 & 8 + ID Traffic 
Sent:        9/15/19 4:33 AM
Received:    9/12/99 7:30 AM
From:        James F. Lyons, earthy56@rmci.net
To:          Ken Medlin, dev-plan@moscow.com     [And many thanks to Jim 
Lyons for your good advaice. Ken]

Good comments.

US 12 was pushed through for tourist travel along the Lewis & Clark route.

This was well before the Port of Lewiston., and other river ports..

It was not designed as a truck route--that's why it has 35 and 50 mph 
speed
limits in many sections.  It was built as a leisurely Parkway.

The trucks have a better route via I 90 through Mullan Pass and then to 
the
river ports.  It's also an Interstate.

I recommended to one of the State Highway commissioners US 12 be converted
into a "Parkway" with trucks banned.  He was not very excited about
this--obviously captive to the highway and auto industries.

My comment is to circulate petitions to ban the trucks from Spalding
junction to the Highway 93 junction in Montana.  Local service trucks 
only.

Anyone who has driven the freeways in Hawaii remarks about the lack of
trucks on them--no interstate haulers, just local trucking.

If the Port of Lewiston had had competent management over the past 20 
years,
then the use of the Mullan Pass route would have been required years ago.

Jim

PS Call the Truckin' Bozo national radio show and unload on them.  He's
raising hob for the truckers to drive "legal".  Your problem originates 
with
the greed of the brainless bookeepers in the big trucking companies.  The
bookeepers raise hell with the drivers to speed a truck through to the
delivery point, and then grab another load.

PSS Type A driving(speeding and tailgating) can be psychologically tested,
and these drivers lose their CDL.  Mention this to the Truckin' Bozo!




At 12:47 PM 9/11/99 -0800, you wrote:
>
>=====  A message from the 'smartgro' discussion list  =====
>
>For Comment:  With most area communities along these axes (95 and 8) 
>experiencing some sprawl or incipient plans for same,  is it  wise to 
>raise the question of hiway security particularly from the standpoint of 
>the trucking industry? ID geography, landscape and grain fields stopping 
>just short of roads in most areas admittedly present difficult 
>engineering challenges to widening, but there are probably some options 
>to the way things are now:  typically narrow roadbeds with precious 
>little shoulders for emergency stopping (check out Moscow to Lewiston -- 
>much of the road has 2-3 feet shoulders!). If your experience is anything 
>like mine when driving between C. d'Alene and  Boise, or betw. Lewisron 
>and Missoula on 12, the truck traffic is constant and driver behaviors 
>less than ideal. Just yesterday drivingwest from Orofino to Lewiston in a 
>50 MPH zone, I was passed by a trruck doing close to 70 MPH an changing 
>lanes to maintain speed.  Add to this the fact that most of our towns, 
>incl. Moscow and Pullman, were designed long before the interstate 
>developments of the l950's - 60's, and routing these monsters with 2 and 
>sometiems 3 trailers thru downtowns is hideous and dangerous. Add to 
>these concerns the frequent violations  by truckers of speed limits and 
>hiway courtesy plus road fatigue and we face almost constant threats to 
>4-wheeler safety.  Yet, the trucking industry is lobbying Congress to 
>raise the maximum hours allowed for drivers on the road from 66 to 72 per 
>work week! What does that mean for logging trucks, trans-state trucking, 
>delivery vehicles etc.?  A recent study by the U of Michigan for the 
>federald DOT found that while trucks count for 4 percent of all behicle 
>registrations they commit 22% of  all hiway accidents -- over 5 times 
>their "share"!  
>    The way urban living and transportation of goods are going, it's not 
>going to improve without some changes either in how we do business or 
>thru legislation. We all have to travel in and about  and between our 
>communities,and across the broad landscape. Before things get worse, what 
>can we do to influence our legislators and to begin to turn things 
>around? Can we afford to leave things the way they are?  Your wisdom is 
>invited!
>
>------------------------
>William K. Medlin
>Dev-plan associates
>930 Kenneth Street
>Moscow ID 83843
>208/892-0148
>dev-plan@moscow.com
>
>
>



------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com