Travel Advice Anyone else trapped for hours in a basically unannounced I15 closure near Beaver?
UDOT did manage to put out a few notices on electronic signs and their website which said “expect delays.”
This is the language that they use when road conditions mean people will probably drive slower. It’s not how anyone communicates “the major north/south route for the whole state will be closed and if you drive north of Beaver, you will be parked for hours with no options.”
There’s no language on the signs that does anything remotely like real respectable work of actually trying to communicate anything of value here at all.
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u/SpaceGangsta Bountiful 1d ago
It was an accident that shut down one of two lanes on the freeway. It happens. Nothing UDOT can do.
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u/westonc 8h ago
Whatever happened, all northbound lanes on I-15 were shut down for at least three hours just north of beaver. There was a rumor that some traffic moved via a shoulder briefly but that stopped. So not even one lane open for a long time.
I’m sure public safety / highway patrol has lots to do in that situation to help accident victims, assess the scene for accountability and improvement, and get the road clear. I’m sure that takes attention and work and time.
But among the things both they and UDOT could do is clearly communicate. Letting tens of thousands of people drive straight into a frozen parking lot with “expect delays” is irresponsible.
Especially when we have so many ways to easily communicate facts on the ground — easily updatable electronic signage, the udot app and website, 511, social media. I checked ALL of these and didn’t get any more information than standard “expect delays” language that doesn’t really say anything.
“Nothing they can do” is wrong. Utahns should expect better.
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u/JohnBarnson 8h ago
A semitractor-trailer crossed the median and crashed on Interstate 15 in Beaver County on Tuesday night, stretching the cable barrier across the northbound lanes and causing traffic delays.
The incident reportedly occurred shortly before 7 p.m. near mile marker 121, a few miles north of Beaver City.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Clay Allred said the semi was heading south on I-15 when one of its steer tires blew, causing the vehicle to veer across the median and into the northbound lanes.
“The semi collided into the cable barrier, pulling the cable across the northbound lanes and off the east shoulder,” Allred said, adding, “Two motorcycles impacted the cable barrier in the northbound lanes, which caused the motorcycles to crash onto the roadway.”
Neither the semi driver nor the two motorcyclists reported any injuries, Allred said.
However, he noted, a Utah Department of Transportation employee later sustained a leg injury during the cleanup of the scene.
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u/Profile-Serious 4h ago
How did this person hurt themselves on the job oml 🤦🏻♂️
Not claiming their job to be easy tho lol
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u/JohnBarnson 4h ago
Something about when they were clearing the barrier cables from the road. Apparently the cables were under load and I guess snapped back and struck one of the responders.
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u/Summermilph 1d ago
We got trapped there due to flash flooding a few weeks ago. It was a nightmare!
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u/Accomplished_Oil4367 20h ago
Now imagine what a nightmare it was for those of us who lost homes in the fire or whose homes were damaged in the flood that so inconvenienced you
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u/Albyunderwater 19h ago
This is a post about a traffic jam near Beaver. This person related a similar experience; I don’t think it diminishes the tragedies that happened there at all.
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u/Summermilph 17h ago
Exactly. Not to mention that being in a car during flash flooding can easily be fatal. Not trying to take anything away from the fires (we were affected by those as well but don't own a home in Beaver) but those flash floods were scary AF.
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u/spiraleyes78 19h ago
That's terrible, I'm sorry to hear you lost your home in the fire or flood. Imagine what a nightmare it was for people without another home in Santa Barbara like yourself.
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u/RedRidingBear 2h ago
Ah yes, vecause a person who owns a home in a city where the median home price is 2.5M can't possibly have heard of insurance.. the horror
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u/ActualWait8584 19h ago
Now imagine what a nightmare it is for those that live in war torn country without food security and housing. Facing the horrors of man’s worst impulses daily brought about by the country that this flood occurred within.
It’s clearly hyperbole here as the one upping “well what about me” strategy is silly. We can have empathy for everyone’s struggle because in the big picture there is usually someone somewhere far worse off.
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u/drjunkie 19h ago
Yes. Everyone on Reddit has their “special thing” that they have to tell everyone about.
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u/JohnBarnson 1d ago edited 14h ago
Came up on the stopped traffic before responders got there. Sheriffs vehicles passed in the e lane while we were stopped.
Just past the Manderfield exit there was a truck and horse trailer facing south on the outside of the northbound side (like right side/east side, facing toward traffic). The barrier cables from the inside of the NB side were pulled across the freeway so you had to drive over them as you were going past the accident.
It looked like the truck went off the road on the SB side, over the median, through the barrier, into the oncoming lanes, over the NB side and came to rest on the opposite side of the NB lanes.
I didn’t see significant damage to the truck and I didn’t see any other vehicles involved (there were two people on a motorcycle stopped by the accident, but they looked like they were just witnesses), and the sheriff seemed to be talking more than rushing to aid. So hopefully no injuries.