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Damn pesky buildings and sidewalks, always getting in the way
By adamg on Mon, 09/08/2014 - 12:10pm
Ellie happened to be well clear of the intersection of School and Washington streets this morning when an 18-wheeler that had somehow gotten on School Street tried to turn onto Washington, without much success.
Perhaps the driver once tried to get into the Midvale School for the Gifted.
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Comments
a coach bus had a similar
a coach bus had a similar problem Sunday on Farrington Street in Allston. Cops had to close off the street and back the bus up... but not before a cop broke off someone's side mirror and pretended like nothing happened, and the bus dented up a (legally) parked car pretty bad.
New rule.
When someone does something this stupid make them put the vehicle in neutral and push it until it's clear.
YES!!
That should clear up the problem real fast!
Correct. Now all we need to do
is find a) the engineer who designed this intersection when it was rebuilt, b) the City official who approved the plan and, c) the people who constructed it. And have them come and push the truck out of the way. Because they are the ones who were really stupid here, not the trucker who expected they could move their vehicle through a DOWNTOWN area.
Agreed
Should be easy to track down those parties, I think this road was just put in two or three centuries ago. The latent defect clause in their design and construction contracts is still probably valid
If you want to dig those
If you want to dig those officials and engineers up you'll need a shovel. They've all been dead for a very long time.
You won't have to go far to find them
They are probably all here:
http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/freedom-trail/granary-burying-ground.shtml
Necronomicon
I think you're going to need a copy of it to find those people who likely died some time around 1740.
And what the hell is a truck that size delivering downtown?
I highly doubt that CVS, Dunkin Donuts, or other businesses on that block are getting more than a pallet or two of goods. In other words small enough to fit in a van or at most a small box truck.
There is never a good reason for a truck that size. Never. Never ever.
Anything with cargo smaller than requiring an escorted OVERSIZE vehicle can fit onto a small truck or van which could pick up the cargo from a centralized rail depot.
CVS
You've never seen CVS on Washington Street get their delivery, have you? (its the CVS right near that intersection).
a HUUUUUGE tractor trailer comes up and they unload all the skids on the street and use the front door to the store to bring in deliveries. They drive up Milk, turn right on Washington and then back up some so they are directly in front of the store. But deliveries I've seen are done after 6pm (I always seem to see them unloading when I am leaving a bar near by on Fridays)
Dunks on 101 Summer does the same thing. Huge tractor trailer parks right next to it (and takes all the spaces along that side of summer)
Similar intersection near my
Similar intersection near my house in Ptown, but there's a sign at the beginning of the street that says: "No trucks, busses, or campers." And wouldn't you know it, I've never seen a truck, bus, or camper backing out because they couldn't navigate the turn.
You're right-- the key part
You're right-- the key part is approaching from the east and turning north below the School St. intersection.
We obviously need more "NO TRUCKS!!! FFS NO TRUCKS" signs on the relevant streets near DTX/Beacon Hill. Or bigger ones. Or lit up blingy ones. Whatever we have isn't working.
The next time
I see the dude on a bike, pulling a little delivery trailer through Kendall Square, I'll ask him to contact CVS to see if they could retain his services.
Ever been in Europe?
They somehow manage to have large retail emporia in their tightly wound cities, serviced by more reasonably sized motorized vehicles.
I've seen plenty of good sized box trucks manage that corner just fine, BTW.
Large Retail Emporia
Somehow that sounds dirty to me but I digress...
The fact of this situation sounds like we have a driver who did not know the city too well (understatement I know) and thought he could navigate that corner. I have see trucks just as large navigate Boston's streets just fine as well as the more, as you say "reasonably sized" vehicles.
We are in the US (not Europe) and I know that companies use trucks, mostly of the larger variety, to still transport goods throughout this great country of ours. That is a fact that will not change, at least in the immediate future.
(And, yes, I have been to Europe but probably not as much as you.)
Been through much of America, then?
Somehow, I only see single trailers in MA, as tandems and triples are prohibited outside of a few specific roadways.
I just drove across the North American continent in the last two weeks, and single trailers are fairly rare until you get past the Great Lakes.
I don't hear anyone crying foul about inefficiency or "that's Unamerican!" for Boston not having tandems or triples around.
The reality is that 18-wheelers do not fit on tight local streets, and they should be restricted appropriately - just like tandems are in most of the state and triples are in many states.
City trailers used to be 28'
City trailers used to be 28' , no problems for the most part. Then companies got greedy, running up to road 53's in city situations. That's where the problems are , for the most part. Add in a sleeper cab tractor , you got troubles , even at some warehouses.
Boston may as well be Europe.
It is a city design resembling the typical wheel pattern of old Euro cities that were its model.
The waffle iron grid method is the usual American pattern.
"The fact of this situation
"The fact of this situation sounds like we have a driver who did not know the city too well (understatement I know) and thought he could navigate that corner."
...or (which strikes me as more likely) didn't know anything about the corner, and by the time he got there, he was kinda committed. Good luck backing up at that point...can't be done.
It's pointless to talk about what should and shouldn't be allowed on "Boston's streets". Melnea Cass is a "Boston street"; so's School Street. At this particular intersection, there's an old building on the inside of the turn, really quite close to the street. School street is narrow, Washington is somewhat wider but not a lot. Past a certain length and you're just not going to make it.
The sleeper cab did him in...
The sleeper cab did him in.......
Some cities don't allow
Some cities don't allow tractor-trailers in downtown areas, and those cities don't grind to a halt.
Maybe they dont allow 53 '
Maybe they dont allow 53 ' trailers...
Cow paths don't require
Cow paths don't require engineers
Myth
http://www.celebrateboston.com/strange/cow-paths.htm
How many wheels you got ...
... on that hobby horse?
Perhaps you and Mark should elope to Texas, given your big vehicle fetishes.
Hey, you must of missed I joined
Hubway (four weeks now) and am loving riding 'round the tightly wound streets of Boston and Cambridge, on, gasp, a bike.
And in regards to hobby horses, have you lately checked your own wheels?
Check your thread order
I replied to Roadman.
UHub needs...
a button/link that takes one directly to the earlier post a later post is responding to.
I see this all the time.
I see this all the time. Trucks and buses caught in the turn that is too narrow for the vehicle. Instead of criticizing a driver for being a caught in this situation, why not ask why they are permitted on the street in the first place? This is not Storrow drive. There are no signs warning drivers of the narrow turn. The street is simply to narrow. Perhaps the city should remove the few commercial spots on School street just before the turn so the drivers can have a wider swing.
Betting something was blocking the end of School St
We can't see further up School or on the other side of the truck, but both roads are 2-lanes wide. School Street is even marked for no parking on the right shoulder which should have given him plenty of room to swing wide right to turn left. In fact, in Google Street View there's a semi from Coca-Cola making a delivery that most assuredly didn't back up all the way to Tremont in order to leave.
The intersection angle is also wider than 90 degrees there and Washington has another like half-lane cutout that starts there. All things working in his favor. So, I don't know why it would have been necessary for him to drive up the curb unless something was in his way where it likely shouldn't have been and he was trying to make the best of it (or is a really bad truck driver).
Being very familiar with this
Being very familiar with this intersection, I would be astonished if any 18-wheeler would be able to cut a wide left onto Washington, and then an almost immediate wide right onto Water, without ending up in the same position, even without cars parked on the right of School St. And when you say two lanes on School St, I must add those are VERY narrow lanes - I can't see two modern cars comfortably riding down at the same time beside each other. Also while I'm pretty sure there is no parking by the Irish Famine Memorial as you say (though it seems trucks do unload from there), I would hardly call that 'plenty of room' for such a vehicle to make the wide left onto Washington.
Uh huh
http://goo.gl/maps/g7Qvj
That's two lanes, with plenty of room around the Honda and a semi parked on the right shoulder (gee, I don't recall the aghast reactions when he pulled out).
Then if they're on Washington in the far right side, they can swing their trailer to the left, using the parking garage entrance on the left side opposite Waters as a way to come back around to the right again. It's completely doable combined with the fact that the street furniture at the intersection at Waters is back from the curb letting them clip the corner if they have to.
The soda truck on Google is a
The soda truck on Google is a 10-wheeler. I'm going to guess that it's significantly shorter than the truck that got stuck today.
Fair point
But look at today's photo again. The rear axles are nowhere near the outside curb. He didn't take advantage of the full width of the turn possible. Again, this is either due to so ethi g we can't see on School St or just a sign of a bad driver.
It's 2 lanes, sure, but my
It's 2 lanes, sure, but my point is that its a very narrow two lanes (also that it is not marked as two lanes) - and the reality is that all the traffic I see is single file until perhaps you reach the Walgreen's, and that point both lanes would need to go left with Washington being a one way. In any case, if what you say is true, and given the width of the street, perhaps it is theoretically possible to maneuver such a long truck in such a way without bringing down the Old Corner Bookstore (Chipotle be damned!) but as particle physicists have also told us, it is also theoretically possible for a elephant to dangle over a cliff by holding on to a dandelion with its trunk. I guess you'll just have to call MythBusters.
The intersection angle is also wider than 90 degrees
Did you get out your compass and protractor to measure that? Sure looks like 90 degrees to me; if it's any more, it's a trivial amount.
Ding Ding Ding. That is
Ding Ding Ding. That is exactly what happened. I think I must be the only person commenting who was actually there. His path was being blocked by another truck, one of those small ones, which had stopped for some reason on Washington.
V
is for Victory.
Maybe his original route had
Maybe his original route had him going up Storrow Drive, but he got lost after getting off Storrow because he didn't want to end up the subject of a post at that Universal whatchamacallit web site that everybody keeps telling him about.
I drive a truck
Believe me, this guy didn't wake up and say "how can I screw up traffic today". Most likely he is being forced, at risk of getting fired, to use totally inappropriate equipment to do a job in an area he is totally unfamiliar with.
Back in the day, deliveries in the city were handled by local cartage agents who used the right sized truck with very experienced drivers. But hey, unions are bad, so you get what you got and stop complaining.
Back in the day, deliveries
The fuck you say.
During the next round of
During the next round of negotiations politely ask the teamsters to use a smaller truck for your company's urban deliveries.
I'm sure they will be real accommodating after a raucous fit of laughter.
The shippers determine the
The shippers determine the size of the truck , not the Teamsters. At one time , most city trucks and tractors were cabovers.The insurance companies rated out their use, so they stopped making them basically.City trailers were 28' long, very manageable in the city. Then your man Ted Kennedy, in retaliation, believing the Teamsters were behind his brothers demise, led the charge for trucking deregulation, which sunk the trucking companies investments in freight lanes to zero, and balance sheeted them out of business.To all this , add the one dimensional it looks good on paper management perceptions. But when the rubber meets the road , you have this clusterflux. Companies want critical mass loads. If you want a bunch of 2 pallet vans servicing all these businesses, you will pay for it, both in increased product costs , and swarms of vans buzzing like bees in and out of the area.
Everybody!
It was his first trip to Boston in a big long diesel truck
It was his first trip to Boston he was a havin' lots of luck
He was headed the wrong direction down a one way street in town
And this is what he said when the police chased him down
Give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig round
It's the easiest way that I found
Some guys can turn on a dime or turn it right downtown
But I need forty acres to turn this rig around
When he finally found where to unload he had a dreadful shock
His trailer pointed toward the road and his cab right to the dock
And as he looked around him through his tears he made this sound
Oh give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig round
Give me forty acres...
[ guitar ]
When he finally got unloaded he was glad to leave that town
He was feelin' fairly happy goin' back to Alabam
And up ahead he saw a sign said you are northward bound
He said give me forty acres and I'll turn this rig round
He was drivin' down the right lane when ahead he saw a sign
He had to make a left hand turn but he could not get in line
The tears were streamin' down his cheeks and they all heard him yell
Give me forty sticks of dynamite and I'll blow his rig to hell
Give me forty acres...