A vehicle makes its way around a roundabout as a semi truck sits stuck on the other side at the intersection of Harvard Road and Mound Ridge Drive, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 in west Lawrence. The driver of the truck, left, a tow worker and a police officer discuss means for removing the truck.
A mover's truck had to be towed Friday morning after getting stuck in a
roundabout at Harvard Road and Moundridge Drive, just east of Wakarusa
Drive.
Lawrence police said damage was reported to the roundabout and the Kansas
Highway Patrol was dispatched to inspect the United Van Lines truck, but no
ticket was issued to the driver.
A spokesman for the truck line said the situation was "awkward" for the
driver, who was headed to make a residential delivery. The driver was able
to complete the delivery, but the spokesman would not identify the location.
Comments
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puddleglum (anonymous) says…
thank god!
geekin_topekan (anonymous) says…
Hey PG, maybe they're moving back to joco. Let's go help out.
gsxr600 (anonymous) says…
Haha breaking news! Are you kidding me?
GetAlongGang (anonymous) says…
Sounds like the city commissioners need to hire a consultant to tell them how to handle the Moving Truck Menace. $375,000 sound about right?
bigdave (anonymous) says…
Breaking news!!! Zero gravity butterfly sh!t turns out to be the cure for cancer? LOL!!
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
maybe they where trying to move the roundabout and can't figure out how to get it done. Try a bull dozer.
purplesage (anonymous) says…
That makes me laugh. I know it isn't funny for the truck driver or for the folks whose stuff is stranded. The Air Force could practice hitting them with smart bombs - but there might be collateral damage so a dozer would be a good second choice.
hujiko (anonymous) says…
sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow news day
stick to covering basketball
nobody1793 (anonymous) says…
I would imagine if you had to pass by that way to get to work, it would be breaking news...
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
Perhaps the fool that designed that idiotic thing ought to go out and see their handywork in action! Some that are designed and constructed properly with sufficient room can be effective, but that one is ill-designed and ill-constructed to be sure!
RalphReed (Ralph Reed) says…
@GetAlongGang.
I'll do the study for $275 Grand, thereby saving the City $100 Grand right from the start. Then, I'll subcontract the study for $50 Grand, netting myself $200 Grand after taxes.
*****
Wonder how much fun they would have trying to negotiate 19th & Barker?
autie (anonymous) says…
that's what you get when you try to stick a square peg in a round hole.
consumer1 (anonymous) says…
Everyone knows in a big vehicle you don't go around the rounds a bout, you go "Over it".
Wallythewalrus (anonymous) says…
quadrilateral in a round hole. Hee Haw.
smitty (anonymous) says…
the magic of our city......Another believer in Friday the thirteenth.
parrothead8 (anonymous) says…
Ralph, I'll take that subcontract.
sillyboy434 (anonymous) says…
For people who live in this neighborhood and drive this route, this is kind of important.
Bob_Keeshan (anonymous) says…
Having driven by this trying to get to work, I can tell you it wasn't very funny.
Harvard is completely blocked off. The truck did go over the roundabout, fwiw.
jfcm77 (anonymous) says…
This is just to distract you from the real issues, like crack-seal.
RockChalkFan4 (anonymous) says…
All the roundabouts in the city are messed up. I have not seen one that was designed correctly. Apparently, while they got the idea from Europe, they never actually looked at the ones in Europe. The driving lanes are too small, as this truck is a perfect example. The design idea they forgot is that you should not need to stop before entering a roundabout, they are used to keep traffic moving, which obviously in Lawrence they are NOT!
consumer1 (anonymous) says…
Let me see???HMMMM> Oh yeah! the round a bouts were put in during the "progressive's" stint in office. the three amigo did this to us. Schuaner, Rundle and Highburger. Remember, this spent millions on these things instead of fixing the roads... Thanks progressives.
RalphReed (Ralph Reed) says…
@parrothead8.
Done. I'll talk to the City.
****
The best roundabouts I've ever seen are in Bangkok; big, multi-laned, armed police directing traffic if need be, etc.
garyr (anonymous) says…
Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
It could just as easily be a fire engine stuck in the Rundlebout.
____________________________
Or a moving van. Oh.....wait.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
Oh, if only the truck was loaded with fruitcakes....
consumer1 (anonymous) says…
Snap, by fruitcakes, do you mean Lawrence residents?
gsxr600 (anonymous) says…
If you live in the area, it's not terribly difficult to get to Wak or 6th another way. I doubt the commuters that would need to know, didn't bother to check ljworld.com.
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
This is awesome. After a week's worth of nothing on the LJW website, we get this gift. Thank you, Online Overlords!
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
RalphReed~ I doubt he'd have a problem with 19th and Barker. There seems to be plenty of room at that one. I use it frequently, love how it alleviated the previously always-backed-up traffic at that intersection, and have never seen a big truck have any trouble getting around it. Some of the tiny ones, at narrow intersections (which still have stop signs!) make no sense at all. I'm thinking of those north of Lawrence High (not sure what streets they are). If you're going to leave stop signs in, what is the point of sticking something in the middle of the intersection?
AreUNorml (anonymous) says…
bigdave (Anonymous) says…
Breaking news!!! Zero gravity butterfly sh!t turns out to be the cure for cancer? LOL!!
*************************
I'm excited that my comment from another story is making it's way around the internet! thanks for spreading the news about zero G butterfly sh!t :)
There doesn't have to be an ounce of fact or truth to give a story wings that will last for thousands of years. right Christians?
BigPrune (anonymous) says…
Waiting for Merrill and one of his one page cut and pastes about the benefits of the roundabout.
I suspect he will be nowhere to be found on this article.
What was the price tag for this thing, like $600,000?
wereallinthistogether (anonymous) says…
Rather have this as breaking news instead of shootings or robberies, etc.!
GetAlongGang (anonymous) says…
@RalphReed
NO! The city leaders INSIST on spending at least $375,000.
jrlii (anonymous) says…
The proper term for these so-called "traffic calming devices" is "traffic hazard!"
In England roundabouts work, because they have a totally different objective than they do here: In England, roundabouts are designed to facilitate traffic, not impede it!
I think helping the poor truck driver out with a bulldozer is a great Idea, and would probably avoid future problems.
As I understand it, the folks with class 8 tow trucks charge $800 to just go out and start their trucks and then charge by the minute on top of that! So who pays? The trucker? The client? The city? From the photo, it seems the responsibility lies with the city, not that they are likely to accept responsibility for installing a roundabout a ckass 8 truck can not navigate.
Outsidelookingin (anonymous) says…
Sorry, but I don't see how the Semi can be stuck! Surely the tractor has enough power to pull the trailer over the roundabout curb and keep going. Just my 2 cents worth.
prospector (anonymous) says…
I believe ALL the city firetrucks have successfully negotiated that roundabout more than once Marion. It looks to me that it appears to be high centered on the storage boxes on the underside of the trailer that the ramps and things are stored in. Put your double not spy(I want to spell it that way) skills to work before your start blabbering about total baloney.
Do you and Sven get out and enjoy the "No Night Games" and the "LHS wetlands"?
Jimo (anonymous) says…
Maybe it's an optical illusion but how long is that truck?
Residential streets need not be designed to facilitate all commercial traffic. A competent driver should have been able to assess whether the vehicle could be accommodated to the topography.
RalphReed (Ralph Reed) says…
@GetAlongGang.
Hmmm. I guess I can find a way to spend the extra $100 Grand, but it would be hard.
*****
@parrothead8.
Sorry, but I'm going to have to increase your subcontract to $75,000. Do you mind?
*****
@Pywacket, re your 1011.
I think those "traffic calming devices" are on Indiana. If I remember correctly they were requested and campaigned for by the neighborhood. A young woman (25 y/o morther, but I could be wrong) from the neighborhood was run down and killed by someone screaming down the hill.
I agree, but I think they still need one though, not one at each intersection; probably at the first intersection coming down the hill.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Oh the *humanity!*
no word on whether the roundabout was harmed!
mm-mm-mm
***
Perhaps the fool that designed that idiotic thing ought to go out and see their handywork in action! Some that are designed and constructed properly with
sufficient room can be effective, but that one is ill-designed and ill-constructed to be sure!
---Merrill's fingerprints/pawprints are all over this one because he's on the dreaded traffic safety commission. yes, someone who vehemently opposes driving altogether sits on the traffic safety commish.
and as to the roundy at 19th and barker, works fine for folks on 19th, if you're on barker north or southbound, you're gonna stop.
***
more like: city spends $375K to determine whether a study and change of policy is necessary, first.
Parrothead, you're underbid by illegal immigrants from India: $28,545.
LogicMan (anonymous) says…
Looks as if he is "high centered" on the roundabout, and wedged against the center.
Big trucks are not to go on these side roads ... except these large moving trucks must go straight to the individual houses.
So IHMO, because these big moving "vans" are very well known, and have been around for decades, this was a design or construction flaw, and not the driver's fault.
royalpain (anonymous) says…
That's not a roundabout, it's a traffic circle. It was designed and constructed correctly. Just as the world needs ditch diggers, the world also needs truck drivers...and idiots to post comments about subjects they know little about.
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
lol, that isn't the traffic calming device's fault. From the pictures associated with the article, it clearly looks like driver error is fully to blame. Seems the driver felt he would be OK to cut the top off the circle, but obviously that decision was not a wise one.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
Jimo (Anonymous) says…
Residential streets need not be designed to facilitate all commercial traffic. A competent driver should have been able to assess whether the vehicle could be accommodated to the topography.
Granted, Harvard Rd. is not a commercial truck route, but it would be a little difficult for a moving truck to stay on a commercial route and get its job done, don't you think? Residential streets should be built and maintained to accommodate all legal traffic - school buses, parcel delivery trucks, fire trucks, and moving trucks!
As for your other comment, once he turned east on Harvard, he was doomed. Couldn't see the roundabout very well from Wakarusa, and a little difficult to back clear back to Wakarusa once he saw the traffic impediment. Those like you who haven't driven anything larger than a Prius wouldn't understand.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
What would you have done, kuweatherman?
fuel_for_the_fire (anonymous) says…
I do not consider Wikipedia to be a reliable source nor am I a fan of the cut-and-paste tactics some are known for but given royalpain's assertion that this is not a roundabout but rather a correctly designed and built traffic circle, I found the following segment from Wikipedia to be especially funny:
"The experience with traffic circles and rotaries in the US was almost entirely negative, characterized by high accident rates and congestion problems. By the mid 1950s, construction of traffic circles and rotaries had ceased entirely. The experience with traffic circles in other countries was not much better until the development of the modern roundabout in the United Kingdom during the 1960s."
hahahahahahahaha
Blessed4x (Rich Colson) says…
As my 12 year old would say OMG!! Do we seriously have to keep going over this. This is NOT a roundabout. Being in the middle of a residential neighborhood and neither leg being a major residential collector street, a traffic calming circle was installed. It is adequately designed for the typical traffic that would travel these streets and for the limited space available.
Moving van type semi-trailors are notoriously "low slung" as is evident from the picture. This circle contains what appears to be an adequate truck mountable apron within the center circle. A firetruck, panel truck or for that matter, any normal semi trailor would have no problem mounting the apron and continuing on their way. This was an error in judgement by the driver. Plain and simple.
I know it's easy for all the roundabout haters to jump on this and label the design as bad. The circle functions fine. No design can every allow for the "lowest common denominator".
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
cheeseburger: Simple. Go over the curbs on the right side of the traffic circle. Might have annoyed some home owner's for leaving tire tracks on their curb strip, but at least he wouldn't have been stuck.
gccs14r (anonymous) says…
I remember seeing a car hauler hung up on a driveway once. Both the street and the parking lot were below the grade of the sidewalk, so as soon as the truck hit the street, the trailer high-centered bad enough to pull the trailer tires off the ground. He wasn't going anywhere under his own power, and unloading the cars wasn't going to help, either. Did a nice job of blocking traffic, too. This was at 21st & Oliver in Wichita in the K-Mart parking lot.
fuel_for_the_fire (anonymous) says…
And I'm sure your articulate 12-year-old would also say "take a chill pill".
My only point is that according to Wikipedia, the experience with traffic circles, for the majority, is a negative one. And yet, the Lawrence city commission thought they were a good idea.
Crumbling sidewalks, or in some cases, no sidewalks, is apparently a non-issue for the city of Lawrence.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
What would you do, blessed? You're driving a moving van, and are called to a house where the roads leading to it are clogged with 'traffic devices' - what are you going to do?
I'm sure your 'lowest common denominator' comment was a slam on the driver, but streets and traffic devices should accommodate all legal types of vehicles - otherwise, it's discrimination, isn't it?
Oh, and make sure your 12-year-old understands that not every job can be performed by using a sedan.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
kuweatherman-
I'm guessing you are not one of the homeowners living on the corner there - the truck would have left some monstrous ruts in the yard with the recent rains, and may have even gotten stuck in the mud! Not the simple solution you thought it was, eh?
royalpain (anonymous) says…
@ fuel_for_the_fire
These traffic circles do not have a splitter island, which separates entering traffic from exiting traffic and provides storage space for pedestrians crossing the road in two stages. A roundabout is not a roundabout unless it has a splitter island. The roundabout at Harvard & George Williams Way has splitter islands.
Sure, they look like roundabouts, but they're not. It's not often that I get to comment on something I have first-hand knowledge of, so feel free to flame away at me. I design roundabouts and traffic circles for a living, but I did not design any of the ones in Lawrence.
I hate to be the one to tell all of the whiners on here that what they've been wringing their hands over for years are not really roundabouts. Actually, on second thought, I don't really hate being the one to tell them that. I'm an engineer - but I don't drive trains!
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
kuweatherman-
Additionally, some owners of truck and bus companies will take punitive action against drivers who damage tires by scuffing them or driving over curbs.
Probably another little tidbit someone who only drives sedans never thought about!
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
royal - thanks for the explanation . . .and the disclaimer that you are not responsible for any of the messes here in Lawrence!
fuel_for_the_fire (anonymous) says…
Wow royalpain! That whizzing sound you hear is my point flying completely over your head. I don't care about the technical distinction between roundabouts or traffic circles. Call it pimple on the road for all I care. They were a mistake for Lawrence and as I said, according to Wikipedia are overwhelmingly negative anywhere they have been built. But congratulations on your fabulous career.
killjoy (anonymous) says…
This picture belongs on the City of Lawrence seal.
hitme (anonymous) says…
This is Obama's America!
SofaKing (anonymous) says…
It's Friday the 13th.
LoveThsLife (anonymous) says…
I know this sounds terrible, but this picture made me laugh. I hope the people got their stuff though.
Jodi_B (anonymous) says…
Does anyone know if the truck ever got moved? I would think if it was news that it got stuck it might merit an update to say the roadway is clear now.
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…
Multi, loved your comments! Roundabout blog? Just asking.
I also like the fruitcake comments. That would explain why the shelter was empty today.
:-)
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
The guy was driving one of those condo-on-wheels tractors.
nbnozzy (anonymous) says…
I live a few houses away from the 19th and Barker rundlebout. I have seen the big red fire trucks have problems going through them.
bearded gnome is right. North and south drivers usually have to stop for the inconsiderate 19th St motorists who have a problem in proper yielding. Seen a lot of one finger salutes.
beawolf (anonymous) says…
So, after the driver passed over with the tractor, did he bother to get out and check the clearance before he decided his low riding trailer would make it? I'm sorry, but this was totally avoidable.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
Merrill, not known to miss many opportunities to spew, is noticeably absent and quiet today regarding this matter. Care to cut-n-paste on this one, RIchard?
blue73harley (anonymous) says…
This is just too funny!!!! Like another poster sez, they should go after the city for the tow bill.
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…
I don't know who, I don't know where, I really don't know why, but here is your copy and paste.
---------------------------------------------------------
Down and Out, I'm Stuck in a Friggin Roundabout!!!
A place to share your tales, adventures, and downright lunacy while travelling in a traffic circle or roundabout.
It is absolutely mind numbing why these single-lane traffic control devices were introduced on a 55/60 mph highway in an environment that's covered in snow and ice half the year, the locals can't negotiate them, and there's little warning the circle is approaching until you're pulling a Dukes of Hazard over the center mound! Express your comments/concerns/thoughts
Facebook: Open: All content is public.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I thought it would be interesting to see such an event from the truck drivers point of view.
Jingal (anonymous) says…
Just fyi; at lunch I noticed the truck in question (identifiable by its damaged middle/storage/underside) is unloading at the senior home/care facility at the corner of Wakarusa and Harvard. It wasn't clear if he was whipping a 'u' at the traffic/roundabout/calmingdevice/crop circle or just came in through the neighborhood as an accidental tourist.
I'll check back later to see how this information impacts this thread, and what exactly its connection is to KU basketball, the HyVee/Dillons/Checkers controversy, local politics, the homeless shelter, Obamacare and the wetlands.
GardenMomma (anonymous) says…
Exactly HOW did it get stuck? Surely something that big could have run over the curbs?
And on another note, the round-a-bouts here are extremely small! And it seems like everyone treats them like a four way stop, so why did we even bother building them?
rhd99 (anonymous) says…
GardenMomma & others on this, the question of why we bothered to build these ridiculously costly roundabouts is one our City Manager & others at City Hall are afraid to answer. This is comical in that we keep hearing about state budget deficits, yeah, well how much money did roundabouts mastermind, BOOG Heiberger demand from the state to build these ridiculous objects? That's a budget mystery worth solving.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
What would you do, blessed? You're driving a moving van, and are called to a house where the roads leading to it are clogged with 'traffic devices' - what
are you going to do?
---cheeseburger, the answer is clear:
heavy duty military helicopter. the type that hauls vehicles and big guns, to haul the moving van contents. sure there's gotta be one Chanook (sp?) in the state of kansas.
and, yep, ol' Merrill is really laying low on this one!
funny that.
I've advocated before that the roundies and traffic circles need to be named.
obviously this one is the Merrill traffic circle.
just imagine if all that massive money wasted on roundies/traffic circles/traffic constipating devices were put into actually fixing our streets! think that's one big pile of money thar!
worth repeating: Merrill believes that broken streets are useful as passive traffic calming devices...you know, streets in good condition only encourage faster driving...or [gasp] just encourage driving itself!
suppose merrill encouraged the building of the traffic constipators in order to divert money that otherwise *would have fixed streets* to keep them in worse shape and thus discourage driving? hmmm.
toe (anonymous) says…
This is easily avoidable by driving up into the yards.
chevelle1986 (anonymous) says…
most of you who are writing about how this is the drivers fault and that it was designed to handle a semi truck. need to realize that, yes it wold take a semi truck but look at the cab of this beast its probably 10 feet longer than the aver truck that would be driving in that area and also if any of you have seen this type of moving truck the trailer is also much longer then a normal freight trailer... seeing as this is in a residential area the city should have known that moving trucks would be driving here and done a 5 min bit of research to see how big moving trailers can get.
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
"BigPrune (Anonymous) says… Waiting for Merrill and one of his one page cut and pastes about the benefits of the roundabout."
Funny you should mention it - he was on the traffic "safety" advisory group that helps get those things built. Ironically, he also thinks unsafe roads are good for Lawrence because they reduce traffic.
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
cheeseburger: Actually, it is that simple. I'd say a company much rather have a driver go over a curb here or there rather than suffer the embarrassment of having one of their trucks sitting stuck in the middle of a traffic circle...
sierraclub (anonymous) says…
I will try to be Merrill on this one!! It is Bushs fault. Moveon.org, Nancy Pelosi, Jane Fonda, Harry Reid, and Barney Frank are just the best. Now, onto the roundabouts:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/safety/rounda...
http://www.azdot.gov/CCPartnerships/R... 90% fewer fatal crashes with modern roundabouts.
http://www.newurbannews.com/Roundabou...
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersecti...
If constructed correctly!!!!
JackRipper (anonymous) says…
"jrlii (Anonymous) says…
"The proper term for these so-called “traffic calming devices” is “traffic hazard!”
In England roundabouts work, because they have a totally different objective than they do here: In England, roundabouts are designed to facilitate traffic, not impede it!"
Generally most would consider that a stop sign impedes the flow of traffic but of course in Lawrence we all know that stop signs and lights aren't not enforced so they don't impede. Thank God for roundabouts so at least there is something that makes Lawrence driver's slow down!
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
toe (Anonymous) says…
This is easily avoidable by driving up into the yards
As long as it's not your yard that is damaged and rutted up, right ?
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
"Simple. Go over the curbs on the right side of the traffic circle. Might have annoyed some home owner's for leaving tire tracks on their curb strip, but at least he wouldn't have been stuck."
You didn't stay in school long enough to get to Geometry, did you?
For all of you who claim, in your intimate knowledge of truckdriving, that this was avoidable by taking the truck in a wider arc, try looking at the picture. Since you all are obviously unaware, I'd like to point out that's a solid box, not a slinky he's pulling. They aren't flexible. The wheels of the trailer are a pivot point - no matter how much of an arc you take the cab through, the trailer will follow in a straight line when the cab returns to it's line of travel.
staff04 (anonymous) says…
funny. I have to admit when I read "moving truck" I didn't expect a 70' semi trailer with a sleeper rig towing it though. Whatever sells online ads I guess...
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
notajayhawk, think you need to go back and actually look at how this would work in the real world. The trailer would still cut the top off the circle, but by the cab starting much more to the right the trailer would NOT have gotten stuck.
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
KUweatherman:
Um - not to state the obvious, but the picture at the top of the page is how it worked in the real world.
Try drawing it on paper - how far out to the right do you think the cab would have had to go to get the traffic circle out of the line between the rear wheels and the exit point from the circle?
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
Not driver error? Yea, look at all the room...
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/76...
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
I'm sure your tricycle goes through there just fine, KUW. Spend a lot of time driving trucks, do you?
FYI, total length of that truck and trailer is about 65 feet - or more. Tell you what - tomorrow take your tricycle, tie a wagon behind you with about 50-55 feet of rope, and see if the rope crosses the traffic circle no matter how wide you go. Barring that, I'm out, since you evidently aren't going to stop arguing despite the obvious fact you don't know what you're talking about. It's really not my fault you don't have the capacity to understand spacial relationships or geometry.
fuel_for_the_fire (anonymous) says…
The word is spelled spatial, not spacial.