Fun with traffic. Fun with work weeks, too.

So, traffic this morning sucked. Not as bad for me as for some people, though. I was doing 15 mph on the freeway at one point. At another, it opened up and we sped up and I was like, "Finally! We're really moving!" We were doing 40. :P

However, this is because I-5 N from Wilsonville and points south (and points slightly north, for that matter) was an alternate for I-205 north for people who needed to get into the northern reaches of Portland or over into Washington state.

If I wanted I-205, this morning would have sucked a lot more. Rollover tanker truck...on an overpass...ruptured...liquid oxygen. I-205 N closed at I-84, I-205 S closed at SR-14 (in Washington). Especially impressively suck because the access to Airport Way lies in between those points....

Surface streets were closed for a good distance too, from the radio report; however, it was possible to get to the airport via a couple of routes, as it was outside the closure region.

http://www.koin.com/webnews/2003/20030306_rolloverb.shtml if you're curious.

There were also a bunch of accidents on other freeways, so it wasn't really a pretty morning. Probably because a great many of them were carrying more than usual.

I debated going to surface streets, but I figured the suck factor would be pretty high there too. So got to work at 8:25 instead of 8:00. Color me just thrilled. I'd worry more except that I'm over 40 hours for this week already. :P

Of course, we run a week Saturday through Friday, and that includes 12 hours of travel billing on Saturday. Heh.

More news on that wreck this morning.

It wasn't clear until 3. In fact, saying it was clear by 3 is a bit much. They'd started to reopen things then. When I left work at 5, Columbia Boulevard itself was still closed, along with the ramps to it; they had apparently just gotten the thing up on its wheels. At 5; it overturned at 6 am.

Aie. However, as I read the latest article, I don't know if they let it vent fully (they may have, given how long it took, but the estimate in the article is longer and it does say they were planning to drain it into another tanker) or what. At any rate it reached a safe point and they got it out of there, but what a mess.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/0306wreck.html

A few more details there. The radio had more but I don't feel like being too much of a news station today. It was certainly interesting. And I am very glad that the driver of the truck, and the driver of the very unfortunate following car, both got out okay. Wow.