old lady was going to work this morning, on farmers loop.  a big bull moose ran across the road in front of her.  she braked and swerved into the other lane, luckily no cars coming.  whats funny is that the moose slipped and fell in the middle of the road.  legs going everywhere.  it looked at her all embarassed, like i cant believe you saw me just do that.  i was laughin my ass off when she told me.

Had to go pick up SWMBO because she could not make it home on the icy roads. I got her and the kids and headed back and as soon as I got on the highway a bull ran in front of me. I was waiting for it to slip, I've seen that before, but he made it. Good thing too because there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it  if he would have stopped in the road or had been just a bit slower, just hang on for the slow motion crash. Luckily I missed him by about three feet.

There have been some bad crashes on Eielson this week also.

Alaska has roads?

No, the state calls them roads so they can employ a bunch of incompetent road maintenance crews.

the roads are so shitty. But thats not excuse to go 35mph on the fucking Richardson, sometimes slowing down to 10 mph for NO REASON.


If you're reading this and you're one of the morons driving too goddamn slow, FUCK YOU.

Quoted: Quoted: No, the state calls them roads so they can employ a bunch of incompetent road maintenance crews. Incompetent management would be more accurate. I never understood how people can live here and not learn how to drive on ice...

I've been driving for 3 years only, and I have yet to end up in the ditch. Maybe its all that Gran Turismo I played from back in the day

Incompetant road maintenance crews?!? Ive worked for street maintenance here in Anchorage for some years now and let me pass on some facts for you.  We operate on a limited budget that comes out of the general fund of approximatly 6 million dollars a year that covers wages for 90 guys, equipment costs, parts, tools, materials for jobs, etc, etc, to provide road service and maintenance for you year round 24 hours a day. Our budget is subjected to changes, cuts and is not enough to accomplish everything we want at all.
                                            In winter, we have 72 hours to plow over 1100 lane miles of road here in town that is always increasing yet we still do it in 72 hours. The drawback is harder wear and tear on equipment and personnel which in turn causes equipment to break down or wear out faster and personnel to get injured to keep your roads clear. Our budget also does not increase to meet this need. Did you think about that?
                                           The state takes care of all the arterial roads thru Anchorage, not us. The state has 8 to 10 guys to do the following streets:
New seward, Old seward, A street, C street, Dimond, Rasberry, Tudor, Northern Lights, Benson, Minnesota, Abbott Loop, Omalley, Huffman, Dearmoun, Rabbit Creek, Etc, Etc,...
Thats plowing snow, asphalt repair, guardrail repair, and any other maintenance needed. Just 8 to 10 guys, thats it. thats a LOT of work. Did you think about that?
                                           We do all the secondary roads, neighborhoods, school roads, dead ends, alleys, etc, which we do all the drainage work, asphalt, concrete, rebuilding RAP roads, crack seal, chip seal, plow and remove snow, sanding, sweeping, brushing, pothole patching, guardrail repair, sidewalk snow removal and sweeping, etc, etc and have to do this with traffic in the way at all times, parked cars in the road instead of the empty driveways in front of the house, speeding drivers, pedestrians and so on. We work 24 hours a day FOR YOU. Working on holidays FOR YOU instead of being with our families on those special occasions. We get yelled at for being in the way when we are trying to clear the roads FOR YOU, repairing the roads FOR YOU, getting cussed out and threatened for just being there doing our job FOR YOU. We get called out for work at a moments notice FOR YOU.
                                            I personally would like to know where you get this idea that we are incompetant when I believe you dont have one clue as to all of what we do and your above statement just goes to show that some people dont think or research the facts before they speak. Have you worked for the state or city in road maintenance? If you did, you would not have made such an obviously ridiculous statement. I could go into explicit detail for hours as to what we do but I have to go to bed now because if it snows enough today, they will call me into work tonight instead of me enjoying my weekend.

If you dont like the roads here, move to a different state with perfect weather that doesnt destroy the roads every year.

                                                                               

How do lifted trucks with nubby tires do on the ice there?  Im thinking of selling my cars (Crown Vic and a Grand Marquis) for a F250 4x4 before I move up there, and I wont be able to leave the thing stock before I make the move.

Quoted: We get yelled at for being in the way when we are trying to clear the roads FOR YOU, repairing the roads FOR YOU, getting cussed out and threatened for just being there doing our job FOR YOU.

some people are morons.  thanks for all your work and your limited crews work, sir.

Quoted: Quoted: We get yelled at for being in the way when we are trying to clear the roads FOR YOU, repairing the roads FOR YOU, getting cussed out and threatened for just being there doing our job FOR YOU.                                                                                 some people are morons.  thanks for all your work and your limited crews work, sir.

+1

I had a moron decide he needed to occupy the same exact space as me.  It was either slide into the parked cop car or me, guess which one he picked.....?  I'm sure he is one of the idiots yelling at you to get the hell outta the way.   hinking.gif

Quoted: Quoted: How do lifted trucks with nubby tires do on the ice there?  Im thinking of selling my cars (Crown Vic and a Grand Marquis) for a F250 4x4 before I move up there, and I wont be able to leave the thing stock before I make the move. Nubby tires won't do anything for you on ice, but 4x4 is good. As far as the lift goes, I'm not sure how it affects handling...  What I do know is that most of the gals I know make comments about guys in lifted trucks...  Something about needing to compensate...

Ill leave that up to them to decide.

I learned my lesson. in most cases, you're better off hitting the fucking moose, rather than doding them when they cross your path.

The 2nd to worst case scenarion I know is when my dad hit a moose near Talkeetna in his Saturn going 60 mph.  Total loss of the vehicle. Had he swerved into he roadside to avoid the moose, he might have been killed.

I turned to a snowbank on an icy road to avoid nailing a moose in Anchorage, going about 20-25 mph.  I definitely would have been better off just nailing the moose.