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Winter Travel Safety on Bridges Urged
With the coming forecasts of freezing rain and snow, the state Bridge Authority is reminding travelers about special conditions on bridges over the Hudson River.
"The first winter weather of the season is always a little bit of an adventure", Authority spokesman John Bellucci said. "Some people aren't ready for it, and when the weather changes in the middle of the day (or night), extra caution is a smart move."
Bellucci said bridge crews on all five mid-Hudson bridges are on stand-by if bad weather happens. "If a winter storm hits, the safest move is to stay home. If you can't do that, then we recommend a couple of common sense precautions," Bellucci said.
-Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. You should allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.
-Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists and keep your lights and windshield clean.
-Don't use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.
-Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first. Even at temperatures above freezing, if the conditions are wet, you might encounter ice in shady areas or on exposed roadways like bridges.
-Stay well behind and don't pass snow plows and sanding trucks. The drivers have limited visibility, and you're likely to find the road in front of them worse than the road behind.
"Just about every year, we get a complaint or two about a chuck of sand from a sanding truck hitting a windshield. If a chunk of sand freezes, it bounces. Staying 300 feet - the length of a football field - behind a sanding truck will avoid this potential problem," Bellucci said.
"And remember," Bellucci added, "four-wheel drive SUVs and larger vehicles might help you get better traction, but they don't stop any faster." In fact, heavier vehicles, such as fullsized SUVs can take longer to stop because of increased weight, he added.
Why "Bridge Freezes before Roadway"? We've all seen the signs, but why are bridges different? It's a question the Bridge Authority gets every winter.
"Roads absorb residual heat from the ground. Since bridges are surrounded by air, and the air is colder than the ground, bridges freeze before roadways," Bellucci said. He added that this is true not just for the Hudson River bridges, but every bridge or large culvert, whether over water or land.
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