firsttruck
Well-known member
Most of the events I listed and the geographically area affected had ZERO road damage because most of the area did not experience ANY weather event at all. Only lose of power. City streets with intersections and non-functional traffic control devices would have been a problem but the U.S. interstate highways and many major state highways not dependent on powered traffic control devices would still be operational highways.
Why would most of the outage area be clogged with emergency vehicles if the power outage was caused by malfunction in electrical system 10 miles or likely many more miles away.
Many of these events could have more affect on the majority of ICE vehicle operators who had less than full fuel tanks and now can't find stations that have working pumps or still have fuel.
EV operators that charged every night would have been much less affected and if they have solar panels on their property probably can still add range immediately or shortly when the weather clears (if weather was even a fact at all). Many EV owners who had charged every night would also have energy in their vehicle's large batteries to power critical devices (refrigerator, medical devices) for the EV owners. Very few ICE vehicle owners have stationary fossil fuel generators.
When weather event causes power outage the many of the areas that experiences long duration power outages can be very large yet the same area have little direct damage from the weather event. Long distance transmission lines can be damaged by weather yet many places without power have no significant physical damage, emergency vehicle traffic or local repair crews needed.
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** firsttruck - this report has good info and is not very long (can be browsed quickly) **
Published 2004 April 9 by U.S. Congressional Research Service
Electric Utility Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Transformers, Towers, and Terrorism
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R42795.pdf
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A spectrum of threats exists to the electric system ranging from weather-related to terrorist attacks, including physical attacks, as well as attacks on computer systems, or cyber attacks. The main risk from weather-related damage or a terrorist attack against the electric power industry is a widespread power outage that lasts for an extended period of time.
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** firsttruck - Local streets might be blocked by fallen trees but U.S. Interstates and most major state highways are purposely designed and kept free of trees or likely tree obstruction is minimized as much as possible. **
Highway Safety and Trees: The Delicate Balance
U.S. Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety
https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway...ecovery/clear_zones/fhwasa0612/fhwasa0612.pdf
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High-speed roads and highways, both urban and rural, should have roadsides free of trees and other fixed object hazards. Regardless of the posted speed limit, the risk for vehicle collisions with trees should always be assessed.
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Published 2013 August 8 by Union of Concerned Scientists
13 of the Largest Power Outages in History — and What They Tell Us About the 2003 Northeast Blackout
https://blog.ucsusa.org/mike-jacobs...-of-the-largest-power-outages-in-history-199/
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3) June 2012
Derecho: Wind storm damaged trees and equipment, cutting power to approximately 4.2 million customers across 11 Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia. Widespread tree clearing and line restoration efforts in many cases took 7 to 10 days.
7) August 14, 2003
Northeastern US and Ontario: Transmission system failed for many reasons seen in major outages that came years before. Information was incomplete and misunderstood; inadequate tree trimming caused short circuit; operators lacked coordination. System imbalances and overloads seen early in the day were not corrected due to lack of enforcement of coordination. 50 million people across eight states and Ontario were without power up to four days.
5) September 8, 2011
California-Arizona: Transmission failure was set up by Southern California’s heavy dependence on power imports from Arizona, an ongoing problem. Hot weather after the end of the summer season, as determined by the engineering schedule, conflicted with generation and transmission outages planned for maintenance. Then two weaknesses — operations planning and real-time situational awareness — left operators vulnerable to a technician’s mistake switching major equipment. This outage lasted 12 hours, affecting 2.7 million people.
4) October 2011 Northeast U.S.: Record early snowstorm brought down trees and wires. Outages could only follow removal of snow and fallen trees. More than three million customers in Mid-Atlantic and New England states were without power, many over 10 days.
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Hurricane Sandy Power Outages (2012) When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the US in October 2012, many people lost their property due to flooding and strong winds.
Yet another reason for significant distress was caused by the power outages that affected over 8 million people across 21 states. While in some places the electricity reappeared in a matter of days, other areas had to wait for weeks for the power to be restored.
On the Impacts of Power Outages during Hurricane Sandy—A Resilience-Based Analysis
Published: 22 April 2016
By Devanandham Henry, Jose Emmanuel Ramirez-Marquez
https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sys.21338
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Guidelines for Planting Within Highway Right-of-Way
North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Highways
https://connect.ncdot.gov/resources/roadside/AestheticEngineeringDocuments/PlantingGuidelines.pdf
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Trees and Highway Safety - Caltrans
18 mar 2010
Preliminary Investigation Caltrans Division of Research and Innovation
Produced by CTC & Associates LLC Trees and Highway Safety
https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-medi...vestigations/tree-safety-pi-3-18-101-a11y.pdf
Background
To minimize the severity of run-off-road collisions of vehicles with trees, departments of transportation (DOTs) commonly establish clear zones for trees and other fixed objects. Caltrans’ clear zone on freeways is 30 feet minimum (40 feet preferred) from the edge of travel way to a fixed object. Clear zone distances on conventional highways vary depending on conditions such as road geometry and design speeds.
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