Another deadly accident on I-16 (Atlanta, Savannah: 2015, hotel, construction)

[Airforceguy]

With today's accident, this marks the second deadly accident in less than a month in which five people have died. Although driver error on the part of the truck driver is likely to blame for this accident as well, I believe another factor is the condition of the I-16 corridor, especially between Statesboro and Savannah, it needs to be at least six lanes considering the increasing truck traffic coming into and out of the port. Plus, the I-16/I-95 needs to be upgraded asap!

Five people were killed Tuesday afternoon in a fiery wreck near Savannah that shut down parts of Interstate 16 for hours.

The victims, four females and a male, were in two separate cars headed east on I-16 just west of I-95 about 1:50 p.m. when a series of collisions involving seven vehicles began, said Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew.

Witnesses told police that a tractor-trailer struck several vehicles before crashing into the rear of a car and forcing it into the tail-end of another semitrailer. Witnesses told officers that the driver of the tractor-trailer had been drifting in and out of the lane as if distracted, and that some of them had been cautiously staying back, Revenew said.

Both the car that was pushed into the second tractor-trailer and the one that struck it from behind caught fire.

In all, three tractor-trailers were involved in the wreck, which is being jointly investigated by the Georgia State Patrol and Pooler police.

UPDATE: 5 dead in Interstate 16 wreck near Savannah | savannahnow.com

[ellie]

The growth of the port and the increase in heavy traffic will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

In other words, Savannah's quality of life is rapidly going to heck.

[CoastalGAGuy]

Pooler already has. It's like mini-Atlanta out there now. Who wants that? At least the eastern half of the county is pretty much built out and can't fit any more sprawl. But yeah, that "Clarence Thomas" interchange is poorly thought-out, dangerous and aptly named.

[912]

Originally Posted by CoastalGAGuy

. But yeah, that "Clarence Thomas" interchange is poorly thought-out, dangerous and aptly named.

Explain to the black guy (me) why this interchange is "aptly named"?

[bellhead]

Sounds like another truck driver fell asleep. Maybe it's time to have a hard look at the log books and time off which is required by law.

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by CoastalGAGuy

Pooler already has. It's like mini-Atlanta out there now. Who wants that? At least the eastern half of the county is pretty much built out and can't fit any more sprawl. But yeah, that "Clarence Thomas" interchange is poorly thought-out, dangerous and aptly named.

Do you really think so? I drive around Pooler every day, and have not encountered any problems at all, so far. I have also driven in Atlanta, and there is no comparison whatsoever.

[SavannahLife]

Thoughts and prayers for the people in the accident. Very unfortunate.

Originally Posted by ellie

The growth of the port and the increase in heavy traffic will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

In other words, Savannah's quality of life is rapidly going to heck.

Can I get an AMEN! I love our big town / small city. I like how the port and some other industries (military, scad) give us diversity. But: do we want to double or triple our population size? It'll definitely change quality of life. Giant highways and stripmalls everywhere, no question, it will happen, if we double the county population. It will come. Sure downtown will look the same, but it will not be the same to live here. Everywhere else will mirror Pooler especially the west county.

If we do not decide as a majority of voters we do not want to double growth, then it will happen. (So.. in other words, I guess it will happen..) For so long, our plan downtown served us well, and guided growth to be deliberate and intelligent. Then came the 'burbs.

The only approach to this I know of is zoning. Keep west Chatham zoned rural. Slow down the kudzu-like spread of PUDs (planned unit developments) and commercial stripmall zoning. Keep pressing developers to retain trees and greenspace. But the City has its sights firmly set on turning west Chatham into Pooler make no mistake. Google "Savannah" and see its annexations on up along the Ogeechee. All little cookie cutter planned developments, planned to happen until the recession hit. Let's take advantage of this pause and consider if that is what we want the county to look like in the future? Anyone else with me?

I read in another thread the notion of "induced demand". If we build more roads, more people will use them. Induced demand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia So it may not even solve traffic problems. Although I do support adding a lane to 16 from the city all the way to 95, at some point. We also need to get riders using CAT. Not sure how to do that, routes are pretty decent, except Pooler. Perhaps more partnerships with big employers.

More people=higher taxes, more traffic. I think as ellie you are alluding too.. At some point, with all the traffic and ever-increasing hotel fees, there could be this concept of a tipping point, the downtown losing its charm and tourists will stop coming. (I don't know if that could really happen, just speculating here...) Then, while it is not the entire economy, a tourism crash would not be good, it would be bad to see vacant buildings start popping up across the city.

[Rangerdude_Charlie]

This is terrible that another accident happened about one month later. WTF? This needs to be a wakeup call to widen I-16 and I-95. The current roads can't handle the current traffic. The nutjobs in Atlanta funnel all the money to them for their interstates. There are other instates besides Atlanta and its suburbs. You have a wide median on 16, do something about it, transportation officials.

[SavannahLife]

Rangerdude_Charlie I agree strongly. Widen 16. Add a lane all the way from end of 16 in the city to I-95.

Actually I think this time it is GDOT's fault. The cars were stopped because of their stupid construction schedule and probably in park or whatever and the trucker did not see them (may also be human error on that part). Can someone explain what the heck GDOT is doing anyway? seems like all they did was add a few patches on the road that made it WORSE (little speed bumps). Why not just repave it, at the rate they are moving. And just like 204 they are leaving the cones up when they aren't there. Seems like they are really dropping the ball.

[WanderingImport]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Thoughts and prayers for the people in the accident. Very unfortunate.
I read in another thread the notion of "induced demand". If we build more roads, more people will use them. Induced demand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia So it may not even solve traffic problems. Although I do support adding a lane to 16 from the city all the way to 95, at some point. We also need to get riders using CAT. Not sure how to do that, routes are pretty decent, except Pooler. Perhaps more partnerships with big employers.

Yes, induced demand is a REAL thing.

This is a problem for big cities like Atlanta. They can't widen their roads anymore. Sure, it solved the problem for a few years, but roads can only be widened so much before there needs to be another solution.

For Savannah, it WILL happen eventually, but not now. Small 2 laned (in each direction) roads like I-16 isn't designed to its most efficient capacity... in other words there is room for expansion still.

After about 4 lanes in each direction (with bottlenecks still occuring), it becomes evident that other alternatives need to happen.

So while suburban low density development will happen no matter what, it is VERY important to be responsible about it and not over-do it. Mixed use and higher density developement helps with this. Pedestrian friendly development. THAT is building for the future.

Originally Posted by Rangerdude_Charlie

This is terrible that another accident happened about one month later. WTF? This needs to be a wakeup call to widen I-16 and I-95. The current roads can't handle the current traffic. The nutjobs in Atlanta funnel all the money to them for their interstates. There are other instates besides Atlanta and its suburbs. You have a wide median on 16, do something about it, transportation officials.

ACTUALLY, Atlanta is only getting more because there are more people there and they aren't getting hardly anything.

In reality, the entire state is hungry for transportation funding which is why this idiotic transportation bill just passed.... so don't go blaming Atlanta.

The I-85 corridor from 985 all the way to the South Carolina line needs widening just as badly as I-16 does from 95 to 516.