The plan you see here was released today by the Idaho Transportation Department.
It outlines what steps will be taken to prevent a repeat of last week’s non-inury collision on U.S. Highway 95 involving a megaload.
The story I’m writing for Friday’s paper will have even more information about how ITD, Imperial Oil, and Mammoet, the oil company’s hired hauler, are handling the accident.
Idaho Transportation Department Report
(By Elaine Williams The Lewiston Tribune)
Lend an ear to news about the weather-influenced cancellation of the first Imperial Oil megaloads to move after their December 6 collision on Highway 95 and subsequent revision of their hauler Mammoet’s transportation plan as well as a description of the transport schedule, route, and dimensions of an oversize hydroelectric plant pipe built by Selway Corporation and transported to Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, in U.S. 95 ExxonMobil Tar Sands Shipments Scheduled for Tonight Postponed and Westbound U.S. 12 Megaload Scheduled for Tomorrow Night between 13:08 and 10:39 on the KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, U.S. 95, on Thursday, December 15, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111215/.
For broadcast coverage of the false restart of Imperial Oil megaload travel on Highway 95 after the December 6 module collision with a pulled-over mini-van as well as news about a possible Highway 12 transportation project proposed by Harvest Energy for its Alberta tar sands equipment and the postponement of westbound Highway 12 passage of an oversized Selway Corporation pipe for a hydroelectric facility at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, listen to ExxonMobil Says Tar Sands Shipments Will Resume Through Moscow Thursday Night and Another Company Considering Using U.S. 12 for Megaloads between 16:48 and 12:20 on the KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Megaloads to Resume, on Wednesday, December 14, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111214/.
The driver of a mini-van pulled over by a flagger and hit by the lead megaload at a staging area south of Moscow, Idaho, on November 8 told a local radio station manager/reporter that he sustained minor injuries that have resulted in back and leg pain from the collision characterized by Idaho State Police as a non-injury accident. Although he refused a recorded interview, James Urquidez expressed dismay with his near-fatal experience, the dismissive attitude of megaload facilitators and accident investigators, the Idaho state police, and megaload hauler Mammoet’s delayed compensation for his unusable, totaled vehicle. Listen to Driver Reports Minor Injuries after Being Hit by Megaload Last Week, between 15:12 and 12:29 on the KRFP Radio Free Moscow Tuesday, December 13, Evening Report, Driver Hit by Megaload Injured.
Sure enough, after all the promises that the megaloads posed no problems to those of us who also use the U.S. Highway 95 route, a megaloads driver smashed into a couple of cars. Thankfully, the megaloads didn’t kill anyone this time. According to the Daily News article (December 8), the police blame only the driver of that megaload truck. Continue reading
Question: Where was the Moscow Police Department Tuesday night when the megaload accident happened, and could their presence have helped prevent this accident?
Wait a minute. Didn’t Chief David Duke say the MPD was only able to help (because of resources) on Thursday evenings? Maybe some of the cops who hang out watching those rascally protesters on Washington Street, no matter what night the megaloads run, would be better utilized watching the real danger.
James Urquidez looks over the damage to his van after being involved in an accident with a large load near Moscow (The Lewiston Tribune/Steve Hanks photo).
MOSCOW – James Urquidez obeyed his first instinct when he realized a megaload was coming right for his head: duck.
“When I realized he wasn’t going to make it, it was too late to do anything else,” Urquidez said Monday.
Last Tuesday night, Urquidez was waiting with several other vehicles on U.S. Highway 95 just south of Moscow for three giant Imperial Oil shipments of refining equipment to pass. One of the megaloads, which was supposed to wait in a staging area, struck Urquidez’s 1996 Chevrolet Astrovan on the upper driver’s side. Continue reading
LEWISTON, ID – The Idaho Transportation Department suspended the mega load shipments from the Port of Lewiston.
The move comes after a collision involving one of the Imperial Oil refinery modules.
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports the suspension includes three shipments that were scheduled to travel on Wednesday. Idaho State Police said Tuesday’s collision involved one of three shipments that left the port Tuesday night. ISP said they were supposed to stop at a staging area near Moscow, but one driver tried to leave before southbound traffic was released. Police said the module struck a van, causing severe damage, and pushed it into another vehicle.
An Imperial Oil spokesman said the company will keep its shipments suspended until it’s confident something like that won’t happen again. The modules are bound for Canada.
View video with photos: ITD Suspends Megaload Movement from Lewiston
(By Nate Kuester, KLEW TV)
MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho Transportation Department is suspending shipments of Imperial Oil refinery equipment from the Port of Lewiston after a collision involving one of the equipment modules.
The suspension includes three shipments that were scheduled to travel Wednesday, department spokesman Adam Rush said in an emailed statement.
Idaho State Police Capt. Lonnie Richardson said Tuesday’s collision involved one of three shipments that left the port Tuesday night. The shipments were supposed to stop at a staging area on U.S. Highway 95 before traveling through Moscow in a convoy, but one driver tried to leave before southbound traffic was released, Richardson told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
The module hit a van, causing severe damage and pushing that van into another vehicle. No one was injured, Richardson said.
Read more: Idaho Suspends Megaload Shipments after Crash
(By the Associated Press, The Missoulian)
(Link provided by Linwood Laughy)
The Idaho Transportation Department has suspended the ongoing Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil megaload shipments after a crash south of Moscow on U.S. Highway 95, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports. One of the giant loads of oilfield equipment bound for the Alberta oil sands crashed into a van, causing severe damage and pushing the van into another vehicle; however, no injuries were reported. “This was clearly driver error,” Idaho State Police Capt. Lonnie Richardson told the Daily News. Imperial Oil spokesman Pius Rolheiser told the Moscow newspaper the company “won’t move until we’re confident this won’t happen again.” Click below for a full report from the Associated Press and the Daily News.
(By Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise, The Spokesman-Review)
(Link provided by Linwood Laughy)
Wild Idaho Rising Tide 