BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
We've all seen traffic come to halt on I-12 in the last few weeks. Several times that was due to stalled or jack-knifed 18-wheelers in those S-curves.
Randall Campbell, who teaches at a local truck driving school, has been driving the highways and byways of this country for 14 years, so he says he knows how to handle most road conditions; like construction zones.
"Construction zones will always present a problem. Not for just truck drivers but for all drivers....the margin of safety is much narrower," said Campbell.
An example of just narrow that margin of safety is can be seen in the s-curves on interstate 12 between the O'Neal and Range exits. Several times in the last few weeks, traffic has come to a complete stand-still for hours after 18-wheelers had trouble maneuvering the turns.
"The designers need to have more planning involved to realize those sharp turns are difficult for a truck that is fully loaded at 80,000 pounds to manage," said Campbell.
Bill Grass works with PB Americas, Inc., the company that's behind the 1-12 widening project. He says he doesn't know why engineers decided on the S-curves during construction, but he says he knows they're needed.
"They are designed in such a way that if people follow the speed limits and just pay attention, they won't have any trouble navigating," said Grass.
He says the Pete's Highway to Juban portion of the project is close to completion, but the next part will start soon after at Juban to Walker. So while the construction is underway, drivers need to be extremely careful.
Campbell agrees. He says this is especially true for truck drivers who are handling a heavily loaded, 50-70 ft. Long 18-wheeler.
"Our trucks are capable of stopping. They have good brakes, however, they're not capable of stopping on a dime," said Campbell.
He adds that under the best situation it can take an 18 wheeler up to 300 feet to stop in an emergency.
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Randall Campbell teaches at a BR truck driving school
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