Image via WikipediaI woke up this morning to get ready to head out to work and turned on the news. Instead of thinking to myself "Thank God it's Friday," I thought "Oh, God, how long will it take me to get to work today?" The traffic reports said that there had been several accidents on a key stretch of the Beltway that I use to commute to work. Not only was there massive delays, but the Beltway was closed.Fortunately, by the time I finished showering, dressing, and making a fresh pot of coffee, they were reporting that all lanes were open. Still, I headed out expecting massive delays on my commute. To my surprise, the commute wasn't as bad as I expected, and really wasn't much worse than it usually is.
In anticipation of potentially icy weather, the Maryland State Highway Administration decided to pre-treat the roadways to prevent icy road conditions. Instead two of the trucks used an incorrect mixture of chemicals that had the opposite effect on road conditions. One radio report that I heard on WMAL said that there was a total of ten accidents over that stretch of highway this morning.
Fortunately for those that were involved in accidents this morning, the State Highway Administration has taken full responsibility for the mistake this morning. Those who had accidents will be able to file a claim with the SHA. After such a massive screw up on their part, it is the least they could do.
