SBRDude

On my ride yesterday, I came upon a ROAD CLOSED sign on a road that I needed to use. There was another sign saying something about a bridge repair and that the road would be closed until 10/31. We had some huge rain storms recently, so I figured the bridge might have gotten wiped out.

I decided to check out the damage and thought the bridge either might be okay to walk/ride across, or perhaps the creek was now dry and I could just walk across a dry bed. When I came to the bridge, there was a large construction crew and they were putting on the finishing touches (striping and reflectors on the road across it). The bridge was small, a few feet above the water, no guard rails, etc. These are common around here and are designed to let the water flow over them during heavy rains. Anyway, the bridge was done.

The first workers who saw me motioned me to stop and said it wasn't open yet (obviously). I asked them nicely if I could just walk across it (it was about 50 feet long, max). They said their supervisor was on the other side, and that they didn't care, but it was his call. I walked my bike up to the edge of the bridge and waved to the supervisor. It was noisy and we couldn't talk, but he knew what I wanted and emphatically shook his head no. I tried to motion that I could walk and carry the bike, but he said no. Even the guys on my side offered to "escort" me across (as if...), but he refused.

I asked the guys on my side if they could provide an alternate route, and they said I would have to take the highway, which not only is a pretty long detour (I'm guessing 10 or 15 miles), but not safe for riding. The only other option was to backtrack and take another much less safe road with high speed traffic and no bike lane, which is what I ended up doing.

While I understand that the supervisor was "just following the rules," it seems like a bit of common sense shouldn't be too much to expect - he denied me safe passage in order to follow a rule, a rule that is there for the public safety, and instead encouraged me to do something much more dangerous. Gotta love bureaucracy.

chandltp

The rule is for public safety as much as liability. By knowingly allowing you to break such a rule, he would probably be negligent and even more susceptible to a lawsuit. Does it seem silly given the situation? Yea, but sometimes rules don't always make sense.

SBRDude

Yes, that is my point - the rules often become more important than what they are intended to do. That's how we get the "just doing my job mentality" and people who are afraid, unwilling, or incapable of using even a modicum of common sense.

Dodgensince74

I see it as it being his job on the line and not yours, I know I sure as heck wouldn't have allowed you to cross. It would also be a big liability issue for him, his company and the state/city if something were to happen while you were crossing, we are in time where people are sue happy so don't blame the supervisor or anyone else for not allowing you to cross. I understand that it would add some miles to your ride by having to go around but look at as an adventure

chipcom 

Because common sense can lead to litigation. IMO people would be much more willing to bend the rules and take some risks if there wasn't the guarantee that someone would get their panties in a bunch and sue them for doing so.

genec

"First we kill all the lawyers"

ItsJustMe

It's not that the bridge wasn't safe. It's a construction zone. The guy was totally right in keeping the public out of a construction zone. If you'd gotten hurt when a air hose flew off a compressor and rocketed across the road or something, it'd be his job at the minimum.

I don't argue. I actually came upon a bridge in a similar situation once and didn't argue, even though going around it was about 6 miles of gravel road.

SBRDude

The public is allowed to drive through construction zones all the time (there are signs in TX saying that fines are double if a car speeds while workers are present), and it's not uncommon to close down one lane at at time when striping a road. And, at the time I arrived, I had already passed the striping truck because it was doing a portion leading up to the bridge. There wasn't anyone or anything on the bridge itself - no workers, no equipment, no debris, etc.

ItsJustMe

Not through the roped off construction area. You can drive near them, but not where the construction is actively happening (behind the barrels). I'm sure they've gotten it drilled into their heads many times to not ever let people into a construction area, for lots of reasons, many of them legal. Perhaps the guy was being overly cautious, but the fact remains that as long as it's still designated as a construction area, if you turn out to be some kind of litigious jerk and trip on a pebble that might have been left there by a worker, you might sue and he might lose his job.

SilverSurfer357

Had you been walking across and gotten injured as a result of the ongoing construcion as described above who would have paid for your medical bills?

Rusty5329

ItsJustMe is right, you are simply not allowed in a designated construction zone. Maybe it is worth adding a new standard to road work that, when shutting down an entire street or bridge, you provide a roped/coned off path for pedestrians and bikers (who can be seriously delayed by a detour), but that may not be feasible in all situations.

Of course, you could not ask, just ride through and make them stop you. I'm sure the supervisor cares more about liability than anything else. If you ask and he says yes, he will be held liable should anything happen. If signs are posted and you ride through without asking, you are liable. Of course, that might piss off the supervisor, so your best bet is to take the detour as much as that sucks.

myrridin

Considering the number of bridges in Texas (and the rest of the US) that are deemed to be unsafe, it is certainly possible that there was something wrong that they were instructed to shut the bridge down until a structural engineer inspected it.

Most people would be amazed at the condition of bridges and other structures that are still open in this country. Certainly wouldn't argue with a shutdown, since it usually takes something pretty severe for the authorities to do so.

Here is an example of a bridge in Dallas which was still open despite the undermined columns...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wandrso...7603860327165/

Rusty5329

Looks like a great hiding spot for hide and go seek!

sggoodri

This thread made me think of a time when I walked my bike past a construction project underway where a short section of residential roadway had been closed and a detour marked.

In that particular case, the roadway had been coned off, but the sidewalk on the side opposite the focus of construction had not been blocked off or signed. I walked the bike on the sidewalk and nobody seemed to care. I think I was far enough away.

This seemed ironic since off-roadway construction and landscaping projects here often result in closure of sidewalks, leaving only the roadway open.

badrad

such an asinine thread. supervisor says you can't cross, you follow his orders, then you gripe and complain here. if it really bothered you so much, just cross the damn bridge. if the workers try to stop you, just barrel through. just do it. THEN - if you get hit by some flying debris or other such crap from the construction the workers and supervisors have their butts covered. BUT if nothing happened, well - you got across and not having to ride the more dangerous detour, and probably the satisfaction that you got away with it.

so either do it or zip it.

B. Carfree

I came across a similar thing last March. I was on a short (750 mile) tour. The bridge was being worked on and the signs said it was closed. I walked up to a worker on the bridge and he said he would be happy to let me cross if there was any way across; the middle fifty feet of the bridge was missing. The alternate routes were either a three mile backtrack followed by three miles of freeway or a local road under two feet of water. Fortunately, I didn't hit any deep potholes in the water and my gear stayed dry in the water-proof bags. My shoes dried out the next day.

AlmostTrick

I’ve had a bridge and a rail road crossing closed to through traffic in the past on my regular work commute. Both were closed for a week or more. In each case, I was always allowed to pass through with my bike even though cars were not. I guess it pays to be pretty!

crhilton

My sense tells me that allowing people to cross will encourage others to waste his time asking if they can cross. And not allowing you to cross punishes you for interrupting his work to ask if you could cross anyway.

I'd say no too .

By the way, "common sense" is a terrible term. It references, specifically, what the average uninformed idiot thinks. Not that you are, I don't really disagree about the bridge. I just hate the term because it's short hand for "I can't explain why I think this, but you're nuts if you disagree."

annc

Sounds familiar. Did you speed up to get over the gap and how did you defuse the bomb on your bike?

SBRDude

It's not about me. Duh.

It's about common sense vs. the letter of the law/rule. Yes, I know the rules and I followed them. I used my personal experience as an example. Perhaps I should have made that even clearer for people like you, but I seriously doubt anything would penetrate such a lack of comprehension.

SBRDude

If you don't like the term, feel free to provide a more useful one.

Also, this bridge was in a pretty out of the way place. It's not like they were going to be constantly interrupted by anyone. And so now I am to be "punished" for interrupting him. Jeez, the guy isn't disarming a nuclear bomb with 2 minutes to go. good grief.

badrad

not quite lack of comprehension, but rather lack of compassion for whining. you wanted to vent, clear and simple.

SBRDude

I wanted to have a discussion about common sense vs. letter of the law. You whined about the term common sense, you whined about the thread as being asinine, and you are now whining about my response. What's clear and simple is that you are the whiner.

crhilton

No term can replace reason and evidence. That's my point. If you want a replacement term change:
"X is common sense."
-- to --
"I feel that X is true."


Yea, I know. I'm giving you sh*t. But I really don't think you can expect him to make an exception for you. It's nice if he does, but he simply doesn't have to. It doesn't make him an irrational being if he doesn't. It's not a war between "common sense" and "following the law." It's one guy that decided not to make an exception for you.

Life sucks, be glad you're not this guy:
https://news.google.com/news/search?a...q=cyclist+dead

(I'm kind of shocked by how varied that search result was for me, one involved a deer!)

dedhed

I wouldn't have stopped. If I had assessed the situation (if possible) on the approach, deemed it safe, I would have just kept going. The old ask forgiveness not permission route. I don't know about TX but on any of my projects someone might yell but it's not like they are going to grab you and hold you for the police or anything.
Of course I have 25 years in municipal construction and can pretty much tell if it's safe and if I'll create a hazard to the actual work. It's one thing at the end of the day, couple guys cleaning up, totally another at 1pm and equipment and people are actually doing "work". Some of my best riding is on the new pavement for the couple 4 days while the road is still closed to traffic and they are finishing things like striping, sodding, cleanup. Occasionally have to go around some pile of debris/equipment/trench/barricades.