N8N wrote:
>
> N8N wrote:
> > Serious warning to all drivers in the metro DC area, do not take 295
> > through DC from US-50 south unless you drive a truck or a car with lots
> > of ground clearance! They have ground off the top layer of the road
> > surface and there's lots of manhole covers sticking up and I saw at
> > least one loose manhole cover just hanging out in the right lane.
> > They're tall enough to do serious damage; I saw a Jetta in the left
> > lane suddenly start trailing lots of smoke; when it pulled over I
> > pulled in ahead of it to see if the driver needed a fire extinguisher,
> > here what had happened was she hit "something in the road" (I assume
> > one of the manhole covers) and it was enough to bend the RF rim and
> > half-flatten the tire; it also ripped off the belly pan and the bottom
> > of the oil pan. Not Good! Fortunately (if anything could be
> > considered fortunate) she had a cell phone and the car didn't actually
> > catch fire, and she wanted to stay with the car until someone showed up
> > with a tow truck, so I left.
> >
> > nate
>
> Just an update; I took 295 this AM as I had to go to a job site - big
> mistake. Northbound has been repaved and is OK to travel but
> southbound hasn't been touched since I posted the original message, and
> now the milled pavement has started to break up and peel away down to
> the original concrete. If you must take 295 southbound stay out of the
> passing lane at all costs, that's where the problem is. Of course, I
> heard about this on the radio this AM *AFTER* I'd already been through
> the area and nearly got rear-ended as I did the brake/accelerate thing
> to "pop" my car over the yawning cavern in front of it.
>
> Oil pan still intact. *whew*

Heard on the radio this evening that the contractor was paving
on both the north and southbound sides.
--
John in the sand box of Marylands eastern shore.