Безопасность уступает прибыли: критика опасного состояния шоссе 22 в Вайоминге

Safety and profit are not good dance partners. One will always step on the other’s toes, and most often it is safety that leaves bruised or bloodied. We mostly accept this. We roll the dice. Highway 22 exceeds a 10% grade because it was designed that way as the shortest (and cheapest) distance from Wilson to Teton Pass. The reason there are no runaway truck ramps is because this design left nowhere to put them. There should be a tunnel/avalanche shed under the Glory slide, but there isn’t. There should be a break in the relentless grade to allow for brakes to cool. There are none of these features because safety was designed out of this project. That scenic mountain road has morphed into the busiest (and most hazardous) two-lane highway in the state. Now, almost 60 years later, we have a burgeoning, year-round tourist industry. We are one of Wyoming’s cash cows. Tourism revenue is poised to exceed that of the state’s withering extraction industry. Its investment portfolio already has. Highway 22 has become a vital corridor for the valley’s goods and services. Southeast Idaho houses our workers, enables our construction industry and provides goods and materials. We buy things like asphalt from Idaho because it is a better deal. Of course, Idaho is delighted to get in on this action. We can be their cash cow, too. Keeping trucks, trailers and RVs on Highway 22 is vital. Removing them would create an economic hit and an admission that the road is not safe. So, we let everything purr along until someone gets killed. This catalyzes a microcosm of public awareness, and we call a meeting. We are saddened, we are angry, we all grieve (at least a little) and we are vulnerable. It is a perfect setting to grasp at straws, and we usually take one, in this case a “practical solution.” Supporters form a committee to maintain momentum and focus on this practical solution. This approach is another distraction because there is only one solution, and it is being avoided. Signs and flashing lights are intended to modify human behavior, the success of which relies wholly on our willingness and ability to comply. If you paint a yellow line and add letters that say, “Do not cross this line,” someone will step across it. If you add, “On pain of death,” someone will still cross it. I’ve driven and cycled US 14/14A/16, and I can tell you that Dayton still smells a lot like Wilson. If you put enough people on a steep mountain road, someone will have an “accident,” even without weather and avalanches thrown in the mix, and the practical solution eventually reveals its flaw. It cannot prevent catastrophes; it can only hope to change the frequency of their occurrence. People will step across the line. People will still die, and we’ll waste more time (and lives) avoiding the only comprehensive solution. Even with a presentation of this practical solution during the recent meeting at Old Wilson Schoolhouse, Jared Smith could not ignore the elephant in the room, so he answered his own question on whether a tunnel could be built with the words “likely yes.” He mentioned the costs, the cons and the difficulties involved, and of course the Mont Blanc tunnel fire. Any mention of the tunnel’s history, evolution or economic successes (a third of Italy’s exports to northern Europe pass through it)? How did they “un-engineer” the oversight of safety? Instead, the embers of hope were once again buried in practicality. Unless you’ve read up on the tunnel, you only see Mr. Smith’s perspective. Whenever a tunnel advocate “comes out,” they can expect to be battered back into the closet with a dollar sign. WYDOT has no money, the state has no money, the numbers are too huge to contemplate, and the political climate could not be more hostile. Despite overwhelming evidence of the success of tunnels, we remain troglodytes, buried in our misconceptions. Unless you see some kind of post-apocalyptic future for Jackson Hole, a tunnel is inevitable. It is the only solution that removes the effects of gravity and weather. It provides a highly controlled, vastly safer (and simpler) decision-making environment. It does everything we need it to do. We can find ways to make this happen — maybe in 10 years — but we must start. It will take time to plan and build it, and the effort will have to come from us. Then again, maybe we’ll luck out. I understand that Elon Musk owns The Boring Company and is creating miles of tunnels under Las Vegas. Maybe he’ll drill ours in exchange for a Tesla driver willing to take his rocket ship to Mars ... Are you feeling lucky? Jim Olson has lived full time in the valley since 1971. Guest Shots are solely the opinion of their author.