North Dallas Stuck In Traffic for 11 Hours

It started about 04:30 this morning when a tanker truck carrying highly flammable liquids started the arch-curve on the 4th-tier of Dallas High Five Interchange, one of the busiest in the nation. It was then, that the unthinkable happened. The tanker flipped over on its side up against the barrier wall.

With highly flammable liquids leaking out in humid weather that had not dipped below 80-degrees overnight, it didn't take long for police and fire department to do a unthinkable for a second time this morning and  shut down the Dallas High 5 in all directions. Haz-mat crews sprayed foam on the leaking material and an aerial ladder from the department was dispatched to get a stream of cooling water onto the tanker to keep the temperature down and hopefully from exploding. The aerial ladder could reach over the barrier wall of the 4-th tier ramp with not much room to spare, but firemen were able to direct the flow of water from their perch at the top of the ladder onto the tanker.

With the hour of the day prime for morning commuting to be underway, it didn't take long for the back-up of traffic to begin filling all lanes in all four directions. The back-up quickly stretched for not 2 or 3-miles, but  5, then 6, then 7 and nearing 8 going west bound out of Garland and Mesquite into Dallas' major distribution warehouses, package delivery services and DFW and related aviation workers heading into work, not to mention the offices and businesses that are staffed by so many in the Metroplex.

As the morning moved onward with sunrise, rising temperatures and cars idling for hours, not minutes, people stuck and pinned-in with miles of traffic if not in front of them, then certainly, it was miles and miles behind them. Some humor came out of the moment when a food truck stuck in traffic like everyone else, got out and opened up shop right in the center of the High Five at I-635 LBJ and US-75.

When I finished at the pharmacy with some issues with meds, the car just kind of on its own headed down Spring Valley toward 75. A Richardson policeman was picking up cones that he had placed on both sides of his car where he had been blocking the entrance to the service road going toward the High Five. With that almost like a green light, I headed to ground zero. Parking in my favorite spot at the high five, I had a good view of the wrecker with the tanker in tow and the Ha

Wrecker with tanker in tow

Haz-mat crew

The accident was on the 4th tier. The green colums support tier 5 above. There are level 3 and 2 below with level 1 being grade. There are also Express Lanes and HOVs up there, too!

z-mat crews there to begin even more clean up. Tonight at 10:30, 18-hours later, the crews are still cleaning up where the material had leaked down over three more tiers of roadway.

The design of the High Five was not at fault. Nor was the problems from a shut-down. It's one of those things with many, many variables that had to come together for another day like this one in Dallas Traffic.Tonight, the High Five is doing what it was designed to d0, move traffic.

I Love Finding How The City Invest in Public Art

Sundays in the summer are beyond the festivals of spring and to early to be seeing fall festivals appear on the horizon. That means that during the summer months its a "find-what-you-can-where-you-can" type adventure. I've got my little route down to a science. The lake used to be one of my favorite places for this but it has become so bad with king-of-the-road Lance pants who just as soon run over you with their bikes as to look at you. Being a biker myself for a number of years, I always gave them the nod even if they were a bit gray on the rules of the road, but then it got worse. I did talk to the Park Ranger that I know and basically he said that his hands are tied. Image that. It's a city PR thing. They want the people to be happy in the park and you can't correct them in fear that they might revolt on social media and you loose your job. I heard a sermon on the radio a couple of weeks ago that some what implied that the anti-Christ could very well be social media and I had to think about that for a long while. It's certainly has enough substance don't you know.

Anyhow! my little Sunday morning treasure hunt turned up some gems today. I share them with you here.

Woman Walking Her Dog

Playing cards at an outdoor table.

Hard Hat Left on a Fire Hydrant.

At A Recreation Center in North Dallas

Demolition Nearly Over

Enjoyed talking with one of the supervisors at the job site today. I mentioned that they seem to be on schedule to finish up soon and he confirmed that the work is pretty much over after the concrete post are reduced to dust and twisted rebar. Today, if you were on Shiloh Road and looked toward Route 78 Garland Road, the view was unobstructed for the first  time in nearly 6 decades.

It's sad that Garland could not have found some use for that building as part of their new Gateway Project. It was an iconic building from a architectural point of view.

One scoop for the metal recyclers

One scoop for the landfill

Chew, chew, all done!!

 

Short Post and Demolition Update

It's late and with the intense heat (90 degrees at 11p.m.) everyone is inside watching movies, playing video games or any other way that causes AT&T to cut the bandwidth! What normally takes a couple of minutes is taking what seems like hours tonight.

With the worse of the heat days to be tomorrow (Saturday), I went to Aldi's to fill in a couple of things that if I would run out of anything, I'd have enough to get by until Monday, which is supposed to be a "normal temperature for this time of year, or about 87 degrees and the humidity and dew points will be lower.

Before coming in , I ran by the old Hypermart to check on the demolition progress. The entrance canopies have been dropped except for the west end. Slowly, it's disappearing and a bit of history goes with it each day.

The two center entrances have been cleared of their canopies. The other one looks just like this.

The west end entrance still stands

The  east end entrance

 In closing, I can't believe that today is the first of June already and we have had 12 days of 96 degrees. The drought report shows North Texas in moderate drought conditions again. It isn't set in cement but it looks like a l-o-n-g hot supper already.
 

DeHavilland CV-28 Caribou

Navi

Formation Take-off

Friendly Wave From The Pilot

It was a thrill to see this Vietnam era cargo and paratroup aircraft taxing on the runway at Addison Airport on Sunday. There were several others, but this one was such a trill to see on a runway and taxiway and not in the Museum.

Check out the Cavanaugh Flight Museum at http://www.cavflight.org

DeHavilland CV-28 Caribou Troop Jump, cargo, med evac.

Navy Trainer

New Sub-Culture of Creativity

It's not been a slow process. In fact, it has been a rather rapid development in a sub-culture. That culture is of the new industry Rent-and Leave Anywhere bike program. The program started last fall and quickly grew into 5-figures of bikes around the city doing just what the title directed. Rent, then leave anywhere. And the riders did! Thus, the new sub-culture of creativity.

I've talked to several of the guys that are employed to wrangle the bicycles from all over and put them back into service were they are needed. One of the workers told me that he had one on top of a telephone pole. One, was up in a tree---a fairly big tree at that. And, of course, the downside of creativity is destruction. Bike locks have been broken allowing anyon, especially the homeless, to ride the bikes for free anywhere. Seats have been damaged, tire wheel rims have been run over by cars. Pretty much, anything you can think of including the element of surprise called, "biking". That being where a dozen or so of your friends (room to debate that one) rode bikes over to your front lawn and deposited them in said yard.

Today, while looking for something besides crowded parks and BBQ smoke, I came across a rather "cute" creativity mark that I have not seen. And, of course, those are never where they are handy to photograph. This one was on a median island upside down resting on its seat and handle bars. No harm done to the bike (Lime Bike is thankful for that) but making a statement none-the-less.

Making a statement one way or another? Or is it just creativity with no harm done?

The cost of this stunt to Lime Bike is very minimal and I know that they are thankful for that.

At the end of this week, the arches are still standing to the Hypermart USA, the precursor to the Walmart Super Centers.The store closed in May of 2008 and Walmart opened a new super center 2-miles away as the crow flies. The 26-acre site has sat empty since the closing. City of Garland has purchased the property for a Gateway Projecdt for the city.

The Correct Way To Display A Half-Staff Flag.

In my travels around the Metroplex the past few years, I have notice (and said nothing until now) about the way the American flag is being and has been displayed. One of the first things that I recall about a grade school civics class (they don't teach Civics any more, I understand) was the "rules" to display, handle and light the American flag either by itself, or in companionship with a state flag and a vocational or business flag.

With in the past two years, one situation caught my eye with direct contradiction. There is a shopping center with a United States Post Office Branch sharing the same lot of the shopping center. Just so happens, the shopping centers flag was in line with and only twenty to thirty yards away from the Post Office's standard.  One flag was at full staff (the shopping center) and the Post Office had their flag at half staff (which was correct) The post office gets official notices when to raise or lower a flag to proper staff.

I inquired to a Bank of America branch directly across the street as I had noticed that their flag was at an improper staff height,too. The branch manager told me that they have no control over the flag outside their building as the  property realtor takes care of the flag. Which is about the same thing that the shopping center next to the post office had claimed as their excuse why their  flag was at the improper staffing. Even though I already knew the procedures that the Post Office follows, in being fair, I did inquire at the post office and the supervisor did show me the paper that I had expected to see as I have seen them from the Post Office before.

In light of the many deaths from police, fire and local government officials that have passed away, the flags have been running up and down the flag pole like the ' hickory dickory dock, the  mouse ran up the clock' when flags every where in this country should be the same coast to coast. But, as witnessed, that just is not the case anymore. Now, I ask myself every time I see a flag at half staff," Who died?" Never had to ask before, It was treated as a real news item!!

Local government and businesses hear something on the news and they drop the flag without any official directive today. It's pure disrespect in trying to show respect. And no one wants to take the time to inquire. The Government Printing Office has free booklets that explain the procedure. Yet, everyone that I have seen displayed wrong pretty much does their own thing.

Today, I even found the flags on the town square in downtown Garland not only displayed improperly, but in this case it was in violation of USC Section 18 statues.

Then, on the way to follow up on the destruction of the Walmart Hypermart USA building that the city of Garland purchased for their Gateway Project, and I do recall a little rift going on in city council about tearing down an armory that had the Mayor in some hot water...I found for the first time in many years, a set of flags properly being displayed and it was a facility of the Garland Independent School District. Kudos to them. They seem to be the only ones who did their homework!

Improper : On the square in down town Garland

This is the same as the above image, but to use as an illustration, note that the Texas State Flag is higher than the American flag. That should never be and this is an improper display.

This is a PROPER display using the three flag system. The same as Garland was using down town. Note the difference. The American Flag remains a flag length higher than the state flag or the vocational business flag. Also note that the American Flag is in the center with the other two flags on either side.  Someone at Garland ISD learned the procedure well and they should be commended by an American Leigon or VFW post if not a recognition from the city council or some civic group like Rotary or Optimist or Exchange Club for their responsible respect to our flag.

This is the PROPER display and  it clearly even looks more respectful than the Improper handling of the downtown Garland flags.