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This morning, the ice is New England and you're the Colts
By adamg on Mon, 01/19/2015 - 9:02am
Black ice made for a horrible commute and walk this morning. Patty reported:
Rt 9 East bound in Wellesley has a van on its side and a lot of ladders strewn across the street.
Ryan added:
Anybody cycling to work today please be careful. Invisible patches of ice everywhere, bike lanes/paths thinly salted.
The National Weather Service predicts conditions will improve by 10 a.m.
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Comments
Careful on maroon painted bike/bus lanes!
I have noticed that the painted bus/bike lanes on Washington St. tend to be a little slicker than the pavement. I slightly braked for someone in a crosswalk this morning and managed to drop my bike on top of myself and slide underneath it for 15 feet. Careful out there!
All that paint is horrible in
All that paint is horrible in frosty weather.
That's too bad. You'd think
That's too bad. You'd think they would have tested painted bike lanes in icy weather before widespread deployment in this climate.
It ain't the paint
Bike lanes freeze when car travel lanes don't because they don't have cars driving over them. Multi-ton vehicles with four wide wheels disrupt icing better than lightweight two wheel vehicles.
Bike lanes are also more likely to be in the shade because they are on the side of the road. There is usually plenty enough salt around to take care of it, except when it rains hard overnight.
Yeah, it is
Water gets into the cracks and crevices of the asphalt. It either passes through or evaporates. If it sticks around then when it freezes, it freezes inside the cracks. Unless the water is in overwhelming volume to create a puddle between multiple crevices (which then freezes), the asphalt rises above the ice and you still have traction.
The paint fills all those crevices or spans them across the top to provide nice flat/smooth bike lane that's easy to see. The water stands on top of the paint instead of down in the asphalt. When it freezes, it's flat ice on a flat painted surface.
What you're describing does not help, but this problem exists at well-painted crosswalks even if they're right in the travel lane. It's due to not being able to seep through and relying on run-off or evaporation only to get rid of the water.
Can attest to the cycling
Can attest to the cycling conditions, I ate it on the path astride Nonantum Road. Just a lil slip.
Uber drivers also don't seem to be aware of the boat house by there. Took forever to get someone to pick me up.
Hope you are okay!
Good call getting an Uber, too.
Keep it rubber side down, dude!
I've been keeping tabs on the news too, Adam,
The horrific interstate highway weather-related car crashes that've left a number of people injured or killed have occurred not only here in New England, but across the country. What's incredible is that there weren't even more people killed!
I leave for work at 5:30 am
The roads were scary! It was still dark, not that it matters since you can't really see the black ice, but every once in a while, my rear tires would swerve a little bit.
I get on the Mass Pike from the Expressway and that is a steep and sharp curve. All I kept thinking was, "please don't slide sideways into that big concrete wall!"
Watertown was/is hawrrible. California Street? Skid city!
even later
I left around 8am.. and many sidewalks were pretty slick.
Should have visited uHub before I left
I was being careful, but not enough to avoid my bike slipping out from under me near Bertuccis on VFW. Ended up walking my bike down the longest hill and riding on the grass along the bike path. It was the worst icy day that I have ever chosen to bike in. Watched a car skid onto the sidewalk by Larz Anderson's and an SUV hit a stone wall by Jamaica pond. NASTY!
Very slick!
I took 2 steps off my porch in Revere and immediately fell down the sidewalk into the grass. Man did that hurt my knee. Not a great way to start the morning.
Are you ok?
Thank goodness you landed on the grass. Falling on a sidewalk is brutal.
Yaktrax
Seriously. Yaktrax. So worth it! I went out to my car yesterday and was skating...went back in, put on the Yaktrax, and I could walk like normal.
Had I known it would be this
Had I known it would be this icy on a day when it will be 40 degrees I would have put mine on.
#blackguysmatter
C'mon - seven comments on MLK day on UHub and nobody's posted Mozz yet?
For reference.
Would deflating your tires make such accidents less likely?
No, That's cheating!!
No, That's cheating!!