DC: don't take 295!

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

PS - also watch out for assclowns on Harleys; my good mood at having
done my good deed for the day quickly wore off right after I merged
onto the Beltway at the Wilson Bridge. I had merged in early as
someone had left a hole for me; a white Mustang went ahead and passed
everyone in the acceleration lane. Fair enough, I left space for him
to merge in. I had to slow when I saw a Harley literally less than a
front wheel's distance off his bumper, trying to get an advantage. I
hit the horn to let him know that I'd just seen him do a dickhead move;
what I didn't see was his buddy who was now on the shoulder next to me,
also expecting to merge in ahead of me. Said buddy proceeded to ride
the shoulder next to me and yell into the window how I was "endangering
his life" - here's a free clue, assclown, you and your buddy were
riding like a-holes and you know it; if you expect others to not
"endanger your life" try riding like you care.

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.

I remember during a widening project on Interstate 79 in West Virginia,
they forgot to add some asphalt from the milled pavement to the widened
bridge, which was set higher. Let's just say while it didn't kill the
tires on our SUV, you had a line of vehicles on the shoulder
immediately after with broken vehicles...

> nate
>
> PS - also watch out for assclowns on Harleys; my good mood at having
> done my good deed for the day quickly wore off right after I merged
> onto the Beltway at the Wilson Bridge. I had merged in early as
> someone had left a hole for me; a white Mustang went ahead and passed
> everyone in the acceleration lane. Fair enough, I left space for him
> to merge in. I had to slow when I saw a Harley literally less than a
> front wheel's distance off his bumper, trying to get an advantage. I
> hit the horn to let him know that I'd just seen him do a dickhead move;
> what I didn't see was his buddy who was now on the shoulder next to me,
> also expecting to merge in ahead of me. Said buddy proceeded to ride
> the shoulder next to me and yell into the window how I was "endangering
> his life" - here's a free clue, assclown, you and your buddy were
> riding like a-holes and you know it; if you expect others to not
> "endanger your life" try riding like you care.

Let him ride in the shoulder and see how far it gets him. I've had it
with motorcycles being dickheads and driving like they own the road, as
if they expect the larger automobiles to just bend over and cater to
them 100%. Case in point, three motorcyclists were wanting to race, and
each proceeded to block each lane (three lanes). They slowed traffic to
40 MPH before they accelerated. A car and a tractor-trailer about hit
them, and if something did happen, you can guess who's going to come
out the victor.

Or what about the time the motorcycle was weaving in and out of
traffic? At a traffic light, the motorcyclist was trying to cut down
the middle of two lanes at a traffic signal, when a car cut him off by
just inching his car over. The motorcycle had to slam on his brakes and
he fell off of the bike. I couldn't resist laughing, then when I had to
assist in giving a police report, the biker was given a ****load of
citations. I couldn't stop laughing there either.

N8N wrote:

> PS - also watch out for assclowns on Harleys; my good mood at having
> done my good deed for the day quickly wore off right after I merged
> onto the Beltway at the Wilson Bridge. I had merged in early as
> someone had left a hole for me; a white Mustang went ahead and passed
> everyone in the acceleration lane. Fair enough, I left space for him
> to merge in. I had to slow when I saw a Harley literally less than a
> front wheel's distance off his bumper, trying to get an advantage. I
> hit the horn to let him know that I'd just seen him do a dickhead move;
> what I didn't see was his buddy who was now on the shoulder next to me,
> also expecting to merge in ahead of me. Said buddy proceeded to ride
> the shoulder next to me and yell into the window how I was "endangering
> his life" - here's a free clue, assclown, you and your buddy were
> riding like a-holes and you know it; if you expect others to not
> "endanger your life" try riding like you care.

Are you are sure the bike was a Harley? I have yet to encounter
anybody on a Harley that rides like the fools that ride crotch
rockets.

--
John in the sand box of Marylands eastern shore.

> John R Cambron wrote:
> > N8N wrote:
> >
> > PS - also watch out for assclowns on Harleys; my good mood at having
> > done my good deed for the day quickly wore off right after I merged
> > onto the Beltway at the Wilson Bridge. I had merged in early as
> > someone had left a hole for me; a white Mustang went ahead and passed
> > everyone in the acceleration lane. Fair enough, I left space for him
> > to merge in. I had to slow when I saw a Harley literally less than a
> > front wheel's distance off his bumper, trying to get an advantage. I
> > hit the horn to let him know that I'd just seen him do a dickhead move;
> > what I didn't see was his buddy who was now on the shoulder next to me,
> > also expecting to merge in ahead of me. Said buddy proceeded to ride
> > the shoulder next to me and yell into the window how I was "endangering
> > his life" - here's a free clue, assclown, you and your buddy were
> > riding like a-holes and you know it; if you expect others to not
> > "endanger your life" try riding like you care.
>
> Are you are sure the bike was a Harley? I have yet to encounter
> anybody on a Harley that rides like the fools that ride crotch
> rockets.

Several members of the ship here ride Harleys, plus I know several
others, including some friends of mine, back in Norfolk who do the
same. All of them are responsible riders and have taken a number of
safety courses.

The OP probably just ran into some bad apples...

Froggie | Underway onboard USS McInerney (FFG-8) |
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/

"N8N" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> 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.

Yeah, they had I295 all torn up around mea dn more north too a while back.
Now that they ahve resurfaced the road and widened it in places as well as
extended several acceleration and decelleration lanes they have alos dropped
the speed limit from 65 MPH to 55 MPH.

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*

nate

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.

John R Cambron wrote:
> 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.

Good news, it is a fairly useful road.

Just curious, has anyone noticed that the repaved northbound sections
aren't nearly as smooth as the newly repaved sections of the Beltway?
Any ideas why that would be?

nate

>
> Good news, it is a fairly useful road.
>
> Just curious, has anyone noticed that the repaved northbound sections
> aren't nearly as smooth as the newly repaved sections of the Beltway?
> Any ideas why that would be?
>
> nate
>

Yeah, it's called lowest bidder WINS. Someone cheaper must be in the area
now. -Dave

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*
>
> nate

Thank goodness they are finally starting to work on that road. It is
embarrasing (and hard on wheels) when the nations capital has a major
highway that looks like something from a third world country.
Unfortunately I have learned to keep my expecations low when it comes
to road repairs in the district. The repairs will probably take 2x as
long and be substandard quality.

BTW, all you Metro D.C. residents avoid the greater Wilson bridge area
on both sides at all costs this weekend. It will be down to one lane
of traffic and miles of backups are projected.