Why can't Huntsville clean up canola seeds (Athens, Moores Mill: home, neighborhood)

[Huntsville_secede]

HUNTSVILLE, AL. -- U.S. 72 in Huntsville will be closed until 6 p.m. today, according to a statement from the Huntsville Police Department.
A tractor trailer overturned at 9:30 a.m. near Moores Mill Road, spilling canola seeds across all eastbound lanes. The seeds contain 40 percent oil, so emergency personnel had to call in a clean-up crew from Chattanooga, Tenn., to remove the oily substance from the asphalt.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/03/...s_mill_ro.html


Its 6:15 when i passed by the road is still closed

[33458]

I was wondering what the deal was!? Left at 3:45 to pick up Sweet Pea and saw 72 at a standstill. Came back at 4:30 and I swear the same cars were still there.

How odd that it takes another state to clean it up...huh.

[caution]

Heh, I went through that rich neighborhood up on the hill by taking that last right before you merge into the standstill. I just followed some random people thinking one or two of them were cutting through. I got home faster than normal! I also got to see the one Asian reporter in all of the valley doing a stand up. I hear taking the Winchester route was horrible.

[hey teach]

I just spoke to a friend who came in from Athens. 72 east/Chapman Mt. is still blocked. Winchester Road was bumper to bumper during afternoon commute due to the added traffic from 72 diversion. I was in the middle of it, it was horrible. Mileage that usually takes 20 minutes, today took almost 90.

[caution]

Did you guys go through there early today and see the "special clean up" the team from TN was called in to perform?

Looks to me like they spread dirt on the road.

The oil is still visible, and you can see where vehicles tracked it down the other side of the hill heading in to town if you look closely. The next time it rains, that's going to be some slick pavement-- worse than normal.

[DvlsAdvc8]

Didn't it rain last night?

[caution]

They closed it again to repave it. It is down to one lane each for east/west bound traffic.

[shooterclay]

i'll tell you what, i was really impressed with the way everyone handled this deal. i've never seen a road fixed so quick as they did for this spill. they milled up both lanes on both sides of the road and had it repaved the next day. VERY impressive to me. when it first happened, HPD had everything organized and rerouted exceptionally well..

and i must admit, i'm not a big fan of HPD because of the over-zealous methods they use in using that whole area as one big speed trap, but they should be commended for the way they took care of rerouting everyone during this cleanup and repaving operation.

[james_hsv]

Yeah... well, if nobody drove 70 up and down that hill, maybe HPD wouldn't have to place speed traps there. If no one drove around the cops like they had outstanding warrants, maybe there wouldn't be so many accidents. And if drivers around here would learn the difference between a yield and a merge, that would help too.

I don't think this incident hasn't changed anything-- I was nearly sideswiped by a truck yesterday going down the mountain, who then went on some kind of vicious rampage against me after I laid down on my horn at him. Also, the replacement pavement is more like the standard mix than the "special" mix (which was more porous- good for mountain slopes and wide interstates that collect runoff) ALDOT ordered back in the fall during the "safety improvements" project. So the road will probably be a slip-and-slide once again next time it rains.

[friday13]

if you read the C-D before the news , you may want to read this and plan accordingly:

Paving slowing traffic on U.S. 72 westbound over Chapman Mountain - Breaking News from The Huntsville Times - al.com