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Posts: 736
| I guess there is that old saying thats an absolute, death and taxes. But, I like to add one more thing to that. Road Construction. Just be advised that I-94 from Eau Claire south to about Lyndon Station is under construction in both the north and south bound lanes, in most areas one lane open. Also Rt. 53 N/b out of Eau Claire down to one lane till Bloomer. Be prepared to stop, long delays. Really sucks. Kdawg |
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Posts: 1212
Location: E. Tenn | Dang... that's almost 150 miles... how long will that be in place?...and there's that US 53 closure across the St. Louis River at Duluth..
We're going to Canada via International Falls on 7/9.. |
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Posts: 1676
| Everybody, I mean everybody has the ability to leave 15 minutes earlier for their trip. Use the zipper merge, it works. Relax and enjoy the fact you aren't at work. I have found (and I drive LOTS of miles) that getting bent out of shape and peeed off does no good, you won't get there one second faster.
Remember those guys and gals working on the roads have families to go home to, drive safe and pay attention or let somebody else drive. |
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| Brian Hoffies - 5/1/2024 8:21 AM
Everybody, I mean everybody has the ability to leave 15 minutes earlier for their trip. Use the zipper merge, it works. Relax and enjoy the fact you aren't at work. I have found (and I drive LOTS of miles) that getting bent out of shape and peeed off does no good, you won't get there one second faster.
Remember those guys and gals working on the roads have families to go home to, drive safe and pay attention or let somebody else drive.
Excellent advice Brian. A lot of serious accidents are caused by folks that are in too big of a hurry. Plan for delay, make sure you go potty before getting on the road, have your pre-sets for some music you like and it will be ok. |
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Location: E. Tenn | Brian Hoffies - 5/1/2024 9:21 AM
Everybody, I mean everybody has the ability to leave 15 minutes earlier for their trip. Use the zipper merge, it works. Relax and enjoy the fact you aren't at work. I have found (and I drive LOTS of miles) that getting bent out of shape and peeed off does no good, you won't get there one second faster.
Remember those guys and gals working on the roads have families to go home to, drive safe and pay attention or let somebody else drive.
We take a couple of days to get up there, and are certainly in no hurry.. There's always that one guy that does something stupid, and winds up shutting the road down for an extended period of time.. I've seen it plenty over the last few years especially near the widening projects on I-65 & I-75.. I don't know how the construction crews do it.
We'll probably go I-39/US51 $ US2.. The other guy has never been to the Musky Shop, and we never pass up an opportunity to stop at Grandma's in Duluth.
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| Yes, before they widened Hwy 41 to 3 lanes each way south of Oshkosh, almost every year there would be a bad accident caused by someone in a hurry when traffic was delayed because of folks going to EAA. Traffic could be backed up for a mile. Always, someone would decide to by pass by running at a high rate of speed on the shoulder.
They would lose control or some other dim bulb would decide to pull out onto the shoulder without checking their mirror. Bam
And in that situation, EMTs have a hard time getting to the crash site. |
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Posts: 1215
| When I go fish in Wisconsin I can't cross Nebraska without getting in construction on I 80. (no matter what time of year) |
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Posts: 1212
Location: E. Tenn | I moved from Chicago to South Bend in '78... they were doing construction on the stretch from the Illinois line to I-65 then, and still are... |
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Posts: 163
| When its not construction season they are upset about the potholes. During construction season they are upset about crews repairing roads. |
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Posts: 3475
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | There will be tie-ups all over the north country this year....Minnesota included.
Hwy 10 in St. Cloud under construction with overpasses, etc. This is ongoing from last year.
Hwy 10 and Hwy 371 split to south of little falls will be under construction relaying asphalt and side road work.
Hwy 10 through Ramsey, MN has bridge decks going up and main road work. it is open two lanes each way so it hopefully won't be as bad as last summer.
Hwy 169 through Elk River, MN. Expect this to be BAD all summer. One lane each way as the final overpass is being built to create a smooth flow both north and south.
Hwy 169 in Garrison, MN. The "Y" is going away.... I believe this will be reconstructed as a round-about.
Hwy 65 coming out of the twin cities... Lots of things happening here for a few years as they begin to eliminate all of the signaled intersections...
those are the ones in Minnesota that come to mind, so definitely plan accordingly for alternate routes or alternate times to travel. If you are coming through Elk River, MN on 169, shoot me a private message... I've got some ideas for your travel.  |
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| colinj8899 - 5/1/2024 8:35 PM
When its not construction season they are upset about the potholes. During construction season they are upset about crews repairing roads.
I think this could be put on a plaque and sold in gift shops. |
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Posts: 112
| VMS - 5/2/2024 11:28 AM
Hwy 169 through Elk River, MN. Expect this to be BAD all summer. One lane each way as the final overpass is being built to create a smooth flow both north and south.
The one in Elk River isn't bad if you can avoid peak traffic time.
The worst part about it is the narrow single lanes. I rarely get rattled towing a trailer, but they make these way too narrow. Cones in the middle and concrete barriers on the outside with little room for error. I'd hate to be a semi truck driver going through there. A little more width per lane would reduce blood pressure. |
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Posts: 2280
Location: Chisholm, MN | VMS - 5/2/2024 11:28 AM
There will be tie-ups all over the north country this year....Minnesota included.
Hwy 10 in St. Cloud under construction with overpasses, etc. This is ongoing from last year.
Hwy 10 and Hwy 371 split to south of little falls will be under construction relaying asphalt and side road work.
Hwy 10 through Ramsey, MN has bridge decks going up and main road work. it is open two lanes each way so it hopefully won't be as bad as last summer.
Hwy 169 through Elk River, MN. Expect this to be BAD all summer. One lane each way as the final overpass is being built to create a smooth flow both north and south.
Hwy 169 in Garrison, MN. The "Y" is going away.... I believe this will be reconstructed as a round-about.
Hwy 65 coming out of the twin cities... Lots of things happening here for a few years as they begin to eliminate all of the signaled intersections...
those are the ones in Minnesota that come to mind, so definitely plan accordingly for alternate routes or alternate times to travel. If you are coming through Elk River, MN on 169, shoot me a private message... I've got some ideas for your travel. :-)
169 from Chisholm to Virginia |
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Posts: 3475
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | gimruis - 5/2/2024 1:14 PM
VMS - 5/2/2024 11:28 AM
Hwy 169 through Elk River, MN. Expect this to be BAD all summer. One lane each way as the final overpass is being built to create a smooth flow both north and south.
The one in Elk River isn't bad if you can avoid peak traffic time.
The worst part about it is the narrow single lanes. I rarely get rattled towing a trailer, but they make these way too narrow. Cones in the middle and concrete barriers on the outside with little room for error. I'd hate to be a semi truck driver going through there. A little more width per lane would reduce blood pressure.
Agreed during off-peak times.... but come Friday Afternoon in just a couple of weeks...it's not going to be so nice... the lanes are really tight like you said and going northbound people need to be in the far left lane. those coming off of 10 are in a lane that exits to Home depot mall area, so a merge will happen there as well...
Wife was in it the other day...was backed up past river road in Otsego going north just during normal rush hour (5-ish?) Is what it is... |
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Posts: 3791
| Brian Hoffies - 5/1/2024 9:21 AM
Everybody, I mean everybody has the ability to leave 15 minutes earlier for their trip. Use the zipper merge, it works. Relax and enjoy the fact you aren't at work. I have found (and I drive LOTS of miles) that getting bent out of shape and peeed off does no good, you won't get there one second faster.
Remember those guys and gals working on the roads have families to go home to, drive safe and pay attention or let somebody else drive.
Excellent advice.
Back in the day I traveled long miles with a CB radio set to 19, the trucker channel. You'll learn about traffic backups 10 miles before you hit the stop and go. If it's just construction, you'll know to be patient and you'll get thru. You'll know about how long it will take. A delay, minor inconvenience. But if there was a horrible accident, people killed, big fire, wrecked vehicles blocking the lanes, etc, the highway could be shut down for hours. With a CB you'll know that, too; the caught truckers will be advising the not yet caught truckers how to detour around the mess. You'll know the mile marker of the accident and the truckers heading the other way will describe the ongoing status of the clean-up. Very handy, those CBs. |
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Posts: 1191
| Ranger - 5/2/2024 5:22 PM
Brian Hoffies - 5/1/2024 9:21 AM
Everybody, I mean everybody has the ability to leave 15 minutes earlier for their trip. Use the zipper merge, it works. Relax and enjoy the fact you aren't at work. I have found (and I drive LOTS of miles) that getting bent out of shape and peeed off does no good, you won't get there one second faster.
Remember those guys and gals working on the roads have families to go home to, drive safe and pay attention or let somebody else drive.
Excellent advice.
Back in the day I traveled long miles with a CB radio set to 19, the trucker channel. You'll learn about traffic backups 10 miles before you hit the stop and go. If it's just construction, you'll know to be patient and you'll get thru. You'll know about how long it will take. A delay, minor inconvenience. But if there was a horrible accident, people killed, big fire, wrecked vehicles blocking the lanes, etc, the highway could be shut down for hours. With a CB you'll know that, too; the caught truckers will be advising the not yet caught truckers how to detour around the mess. You'll know the mile marker of the accident and the truckers heading the other way will describe the ongoing status of the clean-up. Very handy, those CBs.
That's a big 10-4 good buddy. |
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Posts: 3791
| And come middle of the night you can start a joke session. "Hey big trucks, this is a 4-wheeler trying to stay alert. Who wants to hear a joke?" They will always respond positive, "Sure, go ahead." and then you can trade jokes for miles and miles and miles. Bad jokes are just as welcome as good ones, everybody is involved; listening, telling, trying to think of jokes.
Edited by Ranger 5/2/2024 6:19 PM
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Posts: 3791
| Here's another cool CB thing from back in the day. "Running the front door."
example...."Hey big trucks, this is a northbound friendly four-wheeler at mile marker 131. Southbound, if you have your eyes open, I'm gonna run the front door, 85. Ready?"
What that means is that if they will let me know about cops, I'll crank up to 85 to "open the front door" for the big trucks behind me. Every truck within 15 or 20 miles behind me can safely go up 10-15mph over the speed limit. I'm the rabbit in front with ears and a radio. I occasionally call out the mile markers so the southbound trucks know they're approaching a stretch without cops and then can speed way up for a half hour or more.
Good fun, I recommend it highly.
Edited by Ranger 5/2/2024 7:02 PM
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Posts: 736
| Good advice given so far, but the 15 min. rule of thumb might work for bad weather conditions, not road construction zones. Totally different animal. The reason for my post was to advise travelers of the current conditions. If you travel I-94, and your approaching the road construction, make sure you have adequate fuel to get through, know your exit points if you decide to exit, and rest areas. And btw, there are situations out there that some folks can never get used to, road construction being one of them. From potholes, to lane closures, to detours, all of it. Kdawg |
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| Ranger - 5/2/2024 6:58 PM
Here's another cool CB thing from back in the day. "Running the front door."
example...."Hey big trucks, this is a northbound friendly four-wheeler at mile marker 131. Southbound, if you have your eyes open, I'm gonna run the front door, 85. Ready?"
What that means is that if they will let me know about cops, I'll crank up to 85 to "open the front door" for the big trucks behind me. Every truck within 15 or 20 miles behind me can safely go up 10-15mph over the speed limit. I'm the rabbit in front with ears and a radio. I occasionally call out the mile markers so the southbound trucks know they're approaching a stretch without cops and then can speed way up for a half hour or more.
Good fun, I recommend it highly.
In the late 70s I was going to Three Lakes with a friend to open his cabin, and it was the fishing opener. His buddy drove us in his car and he had a CB. Started snowing about 7:00 AM, shortly after we left Stevens Point, heavy snow and white out. The CB was filled with truckers cussing out guys with fishing boats behind, swerving, jack knifing, etc. We saw several in the ditch. The truckers had the same refrain, 'if you can't drive it, park it, before you get someone killed'. Our driver was a salesman who spent his life on the road and knew how to drive in snow. It was fun listening to the truckers. |
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Posts: 1215
| Years ago dad and I left my dad's aunt house in Racine about 11:00 PM and were going to drive to Eagle River and took the first shift and as we were leaving town I got in e detour, so I 'm heading North next thing you know I see a sign for Lombardi Ave. "Dad wake up were in Green Bay" We had to get out a map to find our way. got there much later then we thought. |
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