For those who are traveling, BE CAREFUL!

shell

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I know a lot of people are traveling during this long weekend and I pray that each one of you are safe while traveling. I just seen on the news that there has been 2 MAJOR accidents on popular highways today. One of the accidents was right here in Nebraska and the other was in Maryland. Please be careful this weekend!
Here's the article from Yahoo News:

Two U.S. Highways Closed After Accidents
By The Associated Press

Americans by the millions, undeterred by a soggy economy and an elevated terror alert, are hitting the highways, airways and rails this Memorial Day weekend. Stretches of two major highways have already been shut down because of deadly accidents.

AAA predicts record numbers of travelers on the road for what is traditionally the kickoff of the summer driving season.

In Nebraska, travel on Interstate 80, the nation's busiest highway and the major east-west corridor through the state, was being rerouted Saturday after a tractor-trailer hit a bridge support, causing part of the bridge to collapse.

The driver of the truck was killed in the collapse, and a 10-mile stretch of I-80 near Big Springs, just northeast of the Colorado border, was shut down indefinitely.

Both eastbound and westbound traffic was detoured around the Big Springs interchange, and Gov. Mike Johanns' spokesman said it wasn't clear when that stretch of I-80 might reopen.

Round-the-clock work to remove the bridge, which slanted onto the highway from both sides, was to begin later Saturday, said state Department of Roads Director John Craig.

Stanley Crandell, assistant manager at the Bosselman Travel Center in Big Springs, said the center was packed with travelers asking for directions.

"Just a lot of people wanting to know how to get around and keep going to Denver," Crandell said.

Just west of Big Springs is the Interstate 80-Interstate 76 interchange. Interstate 76 is the main route to Denver from Nebraska.
Meanwhile, 17 miles of Interstate 68 in western Maryland were shut down after a series of pileups involving nearly 90 vehicles killed two people.

Thick fog lingered over the highway Saturday morning as crews cleared away the wreckage. Officials hoped to reopen the Finzel, Md., highway by late afternoon, but traffic was likely to be a problem over the long Memorial Day holiday.
"It's a major interstate going out west, and it's partially closed, with people being diverted, so it's going to be causing problems this weekend," said state police Sgt. David Jones.
A jumble of cars, trucks and tractor-trailers jammed the roadway and shoulders after the pileups began along a fog-shrouded mountain ridge Friday afternoon.
One of the victims was killed after leaving his vehicle to escape the pileup, police said. At least 60 other people were injured, including one hospitalized in critical condition Saturday.
"The magnitude of vehicles and the damage and devastation was mind-boggling," said Cpl. Rob Moroney, a state police spokesman.
Visibility was near zero atop Big Savage Mountain, an Appalachian ridge in Garrett County where the accidents occurred, county Emergency Director Brad Frantz said.
An Associated Press poll found that most travelers weren't going to let worries about terrorism and the economy interfere with plans this year. But Americans were more likely to drive to their holiday destinations than before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Four of five in the AP poll said problems with the economy and terrorism will have no effect on their vacation plans. Some others said they would postpone or cut back vacation travel, but only one in 20 said he would cancel those plans, according to the poll conducted for the AP by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.

The number vacationing by car jumped from fewer than half in May 2001 to about six in 10 a year later, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It remains at that level in this poll.

Just over a fourth, 27 percent, said they would travel by plane, down from a third in 2001.

About half said they would spend the same amount on their vacation this year as they did last year, and the remainder were about evenly split whether they would spend more or less than last year.

The new poll was taken May 14-18 of 1,020 adults and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. It was taken before the Bush administration raised the terror alert to high early this week. This is the fourth time the terror alert has been raised to high.

Meanwhile, scattered showers were expected across much of the country as low pressure systems move across the Southeast and Great Lakes.
 

ttmom

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What a mess!

I've gone through that area in NE several times as I used to live in Denver. That's pretty heavily travelled even in non-holiday times.

As for MD, isn't that where they always have the big accidents from fog? I used to work for AAA and we always warned people of an area out there.

Too bad people died, at least the losses aren't that big.
 
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