Ruts in concrete on Interstate Highway

[RichM752]

Thanks for the informative post. Learn something new everyday.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Always wanted to see that pass.

 

[California]

Always wanted to see that pass.

Donner Pass? There are lots of beautiful places in the US. This pass climbs up through one of them.

I watched the contractors build several parts of the present freeway. The old 2-lane original highway was the only route up to Squaw Valley for the 1960 winter Olympics. The Olympics organizers were in total panic when there was no snow, bare ground, until a week before Olympics opening day. Then it snowed so hard Caltrans had a heck of a time maintaining the road open - and they had bought so many snow plows in anticipation that the last of them were still in the fleet 40 years later.

I worked at Donner Lake a year later and watched construction of the eastern slope from the summit down to lake level. Several I times hitched a ride on one of the huge 'mine' trucks up to where they were excavating solid granite by blasting every evening, after moving that day's loose material.

Then I worked for a surveyor laying out the Squaw Valley cable tram line, and the infrastructure that preceding building Alpine Meadows. (next adjacent valley/ski resort.) So I was up over that pass many times as the various sections of new freeway were put in service.

The highway and the modern freeway generally follow the route laid out for the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860's. Those early engineers were geniuses, somehow they found a way to build a near-constant grade for 75 miles up through a jumble of steep canyons to reach the summit. Taking Amtrak up to Reno you sense this constant grade, the locomotives pull at an even heavy rate for miles and miles. Both the freeway and the adjacent railroad are amazing engineering, and pass through beautiful country.

 

[crazyal]

I don't know about out west but around here most trucks have spinners (automatic tire chains) and with a flick of a button in the cab they can be deployed. I'm betting that most of the damage is done by trucks (which could have up to 10x the weight on each tire and because pulling a load up and down grades it's a lot more likely that you'll spin tires). We also get damage to pavement from snow machines that have carbide spikes on the track. Often they stop to wait for a break, then spin the track as they get going (usually spinning on the pavement). I'm sure that studs in car tires do some damage but just how much is debatable. I personally run them simply because it really sucks to come over a knoll and hit freezing rain and seeing cars in front of you spinning around in circles. Yes studs don't aid in the snow, dry, or wet roads and the colder the weather the softer studless tires get better grip but those conditions I can manage. Black ice often all of a sudden appears and, like a set belt, you can't put it on after realizing you need it. I had a set of the studless tires, they worked fine (didn't see any black ice though) but they wear like crazy. After 15k miles they were down to about 1/4 tread or less. Studded tires last a **** of a lot longer (most likely due to the harder rubber).

 

[ultrarunner]

Donner Pass? There are lots of beautiful places in the US. This pass climbs up through one of them.

I watched the contractors build several parts of the present freeway. The old 2-lane original highway was the only route up to Squaw Valley for the 1960 winter Olympics. The Olympics organizers were in total panic when there was no snow, bare ground, until a week before Olympics opening day. Then it snowed so hard Caltrans had a heck of a time maintaining the road open - and they had bought so many snow plows in anticipation that the last of them were still in the fleet 40 years later.

I worked at Donner Lake a year later and watched construction of the eastern slope from the summit down to lake level. Several I times hitched a ride on one of the huge 'mine' trucks up to where they were excavating solid granite by blasting every evening, after moving that day's loose material.

Then I worked for a surveyor laying out the Squaw Valley cable tram line, and the infrastructure that preceding building Alpine Meadows. (next adjacent valley/ski resort.) So I was up over that pass many times as the various sections of new freeway were put in service.

The highway and the modern freeway generally follow the route laid out for the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860's. Those early engineers were geniuses, somehow they found a way to build a near-constant grade for 75 miles up through a jumble of steep canyons to reach the summit. Taking Amtrak up to Reno you sense this constant grade, the locomotives pull at an even heavy rate for miles and miles. Both the freeway and the adjacent railroad are amazing engineering, and pass through beautiful country.

I'm truly amazed at just how much was accomplished by our forebarers with rudimentary and limited resources...

My Great Grandfather mapped the Amazon and is still referenced in some publications... he was an engineer working for Union Oil Company looking on how to best develop oil reserves and in his work produced some of the first maps of certain regions... it also cost him his life when ambushed by natives...

The story reads like an Indiana Jones tale... with supporting documents from Union Oil Company...