Roads and Traffic

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      More Than 400 Roads Closed in North Carolina After Damage From Helene

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      In addition to the power outages caused by Helene that have crippled the western part of North Carolina, swaths of roadways in the region were largely impassable on Saturday, prompting alerts from transportation officials that warned drivers to stay out of their vehicles.“The damage is so severe, we are telling drivers that unless it is an emergency, all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed,” Aaron Moody, a spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said in an email.A photo released by the department showed a large section of roadway missing from a mountain pass.The department said that any civilian car on the road would hinder emergency responses. More than 400 roads were affected by the closure alert, including two major arteries for the region: Interstate 40 and Interstate 26, which Mr. Moody said were too damaged for cars to pass.Maria Whitehead, 51, was in Tennessee with her husband when Helene tore through Brevard, N.C., on Friday. Her two younger children were there, staying with Ms. Whitehead’s parents. After learning their children were safe, she and her husband embarked on a circuitous route on Saturday to find any way home.“We’ve studied the maps, we’ve got some local intel about a couple of routes that we can try tonight,” Ms. Whitehead said. “Otherwise, we’ll probably double back and stay with friends in Greenville, South Carolina, and try again tomorrow.”Landslides near Old Fort, N.C., about 20 miles east of Asheville, blocked off Interstate 40. A statement on Friday from the office of Gov. Roy Cooper said that people should shelter in place unless they were seeking higher ground.On Saturday night, the North Carolina Department of Transportation posted on X, with capitalization for emphasis: “We cannot say this enough: DO NOT TRAVEL IN OR TO WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.” More

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      Police Nab Fugitive Tortoise on Slow Run to Freedom

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      Arizona state troopers rescued Stitch, the giant sulcata tortoise, from an interstate highway after it escaped from its enclosure at a ranch.On an interstate highway between Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., drivers on their morning commute called 911 to report a runaway. A very … very … slow one.He was miles from home and ambling across the four-lane highway when he was finally caught by police.State troopers, with the help of a few good Samaritans, stopped traffic and picked up the escapee: Stitch, a giant sulcata tortoise with a sand-colored shell.The 14-year-old tortoise had broken out of his enclosure and a few layers of fences at the nearby Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, a roadside animal park open to the public, before making a run for it. Danna Cogburn, an owner of the ranch, said he had been missing for two to three hours before officers told the owners they had found him on the road.“How in the world or where he got out?” Ms. Cogburn said. “I’m not really sure.” She said Stitch was one of only two tortoises on the ranch who were small enough to have made it through the fence. “He had to work at it and be very determined.”The night before his July 30 escape, Ms. Cogburn said, storms had damaged some of the ranch’s gates and enclosures, including the area where the tortoises are kept.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Scofflaws and Other Hazards on the Roads

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      More from our inbox:Neo-Nazis in Nashville and the Speech QuestionVance vs. the Rule of LawA Ban on Masks? Stella Kalinina for The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “Traffic Stops Fell in Pandemic, and Didn’t Return” (The Upshot, front page, Aug. 1):Thank you for highlighting the public health crisis that is the rise in traffic deaths across the United States. One point not made is the burden on our children. Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death of children, second to firearms. In my city, Philadelphia, five children, on average, are hit by a car every week.As a pediatric resident physician, I see the devastating outcomes of these statistics in the emergency room and intensive care unit. I advise children to wear a seatbelt, look both ways before crossing a road and wear a helmet when cycling. But people are getting killed even when they do everything right.Plastic bollards separating a designated bike lane don’t work when drivers are willing to barrel over them.We need an evidence-based approach to this public health crisis. Safe road design saves lives. We need to invest in Vision Zero programs to fund structural changes, including speed cameras and physical barriers between cyclists and drivers. Cities need to invest in public transit systems.Culture change takes time. Structural change in the meantime is evidence-based and will work to make all Americans, including our children, safer.Allison NeesonPhiladelphiaTo the Editor:The degree to which American drivers have been ignoring traffic laws over the past several years is mind-blowing. Speeding on highways and parkways is out of control and makes driving an exercise in avoiding catastrophe. It seems as if every other car is drag racing or trying to set a new speed record.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lithium Battery Fire Traps Drivers in Sweltering Heat on California Highway

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      Traffic was at a standstill for hours on a portion of I-15 near Baker, Calif., after a truck carrying lithium batteries overturned and caught fire.Drivers were stuck in traffic in 109-degree heat on a California highway on Saturday for hours as the authorities struggled to extinguish a fire involving a truck carrying lithium ion batteries that had overturned on Friday.Emergency services received calls around 6:30 a.m. local time about a truck that had crashed near Baker, Calif., in the northbound lanes of I-15, a major highway that leads travelers to Las Vegas.The northbound lanes were closed beginning at 8:30 a.m., and the southbound lanes at 9 a.m. The southbound lanes reopened shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol.The northbound lanes remained closed as of 5 p.m. on Saturday, according to the California Department of Transportation.The California Highway Patrol said it had cleared the backlog of stuck vehicles on the closed highway by rerouting them to I-40. But that, in turn, had caused “extremely heavy” traffic on that highway, which the agency described as “the only alternative” because of the location of the closure on I-15.“Multiple attempts were made to move the container from the freeway shoulder to open land using heavy equipment,” the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District said on social media on Saturday. “However, the container’s weight, exceeding 75,000 pounds, has made these efforts unsuccessful so far.”The fire district said it was monitoring the air quality “due to the hazardous materials and chemicals involved.”Emergency responders were checking for hydrogen cyanide, chlorine and sulfur dioxide, the district said, adding, “These chemicals pose significant health risks at elevated levels, with hydrogen cyanide and chlorine being particularly dangerous even at low concentrations.”Lithium ion batteries, which are used in many electronic devices, including e-bikes and electric cars, contain highly flammable materials. If ignited, the batteries burn hot and are very difficult to put out.The fire district noted on social media that lithium ion battery fires “can escalate to thermal runaway, needing massive amounts of water to extinguish.”Videos posted on social media from drivers on the highway traveling in the opposite direction showed long lines of vehicles at a complete stop.The California Highway Patrol did not provide an estimate of how long drivers had been stuck on I-15, noting that travel patterns vary, nor was it clear how many drivers had been stranded.But some on social media said they had been stopped in traffic for six hours and expressed concern about running out of gas or electric cars running out of charge.“The closure of the northbound side was moved further south,” the California Highway Patrol said in an email, adding that this move “allowed motorists to utilize alternate routes.”Saturday was an exceptionally hot day in Baker, with temperatures reaching the triple digits.The fire district, which could not be immediately reached for comment, advised people to travel with plenty of water and to “ensure you have enough supplies, fuel and charge in your vehicle.” More

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      Mountain Landslide Destroys Section of Highway to Jackson, Wyo.

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      The road, linking Idaho with Wyoming, is a key route to Jackson Hole, a tourism hub. It had been closed to traffic before the landslide.A landslide in the Teton mountains destroyed part of a highway that links Idaho to Jackson, Wyo., forcing the authorities to close the road indefinitely on Saturday just as the area was entering its summer tourism season.No one was injured when a section of the Teton Pass “catastrophically failed,” the Wyoming Department of Transportation said in a statement on Saturday. The highway west of Jackson had been closed to traffic before the road gave way, and crews were working to build a detour around a section where a crack had appeared in the surface days earlier.The department said it expected a long-term closure. Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming said in a separate statement that geologists and engineers would “develop a long-term solution to rebuild the roadway.”Even a short closure would pose major logistical challenges for the area, in part because the road serves Jackson Hole, a major tourism hub in Teton County. Travel and tourism is Wyoming’s second-largest industry, according to the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, and the county took in about $1.7 billion in travel-related spending in 2022.“We understand this highway is a lifeline for commuters, deliveries, medical care access and tourism, especially with limited alternatives and the summer season upon us,” Darin Westby, the director of the state’s Transportation Department, said in a separate statement.The department’s “engineers, surveyors and geologists mobilized quickly to try to maintain highway viability as long as possible, but catastrophic failure could not be avoided,” Mr. Westby said.The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce said on its website that travelers could still reach the Jackson area from the west by taking two other roads through the Snake River Canyon. But that detour adds more than an hour of driving time, the local news outlet WyoFile reported.The section of Wyoming State Highway 22 that collapsed was initially closed earlier in the week after cracks appeared in the surface. It reopened after crews patched the cracks but was closed again after a separate mudslide a few miles away sent mud and debris spilling over the road, the Transportation Department said.The department said in its statement on Saturday that its crews were still working to clear that mud and debris. More

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      Kia Recalls Telluride SUV Over Fire Risk; Urging Owners to Park Outside

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      About 460,000 vehicles could be affected by the recall, which stems from a problem with the vehicle’s front power seat motor.The automotive company Kia issued a recall on Friday of certain Telluride SUVs from the years 2020 through 2024 and urged the owners of the vehicles to park outside and away from structures because of a fire risk, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.The issue stems from the front power seat motor, which can overheat “because of a stuck power seat slide knob, potentially resulting in a fire and increasing the risk of injury,” the NHTSA said in a statement.“To fix the issue, dealers will install a bracket for the power seat switch back covers and replace the seat slide knobs, free of charge,” the statement said.Kia recommended that drivers park outside until repairs were completed.About 460,000 vehicles could be affected by the recall, according to the NHTSA, and notices informing owners of affected Tellurides are expected to be mailed beginning July 30.Kia will also reimburse owners for repair expenses already incurred, according to a Safety Recall Report that the agency posted online.A chronology of the issues with the Telluride Front Power Seats shared by the NHTSA shows that the Kia North America Safety Office saw complaints of smoke and a report of a “driver seat caught on fire while driving.” No injuries were reported from that fire, according to the document, nor have there been any injuries, crashes or fatalities stemming from the problem.James Bell, a spokesman for Kia, called the issue “very rare.”In September 2023, Hyundai and Kia recalled nearly 3.4 million vehicles in the United States because of a fire risk in the engine compartment caused by brake fluid leaks. At the time, the automakers also advised car owners to park their vehicles outside.Hyundai is the parent company of Kia Motors, but the manufacturers operate independently. More

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      N.Y. Lawmakers End Session Without Replacing Congestion Pricing Revenue

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      State Senate Democrats rebuked Gov. Kathy Hochul over her decision to halt a long-developed plan to charge drivers tolls to enter Manhattan’s core.Gov. Kathy Hochul defended her decision to halt congestion pricing hours after State Senate Democrats said they would leave Albany without plugging the funding gap left in its absence.In her first public appearance since announcing she would backtrack from the plan, Ms. Hochul reiterated that the time was not right to increase the burden on New York City’s economy.“We thought that inflation would be lower,” she said at a news conference Friday night. “We thought that people would feel more secure about going on the subways. Yes, yes, we’re coming back, but we can’t afford a setback.”At the news conference, Ms. Hochul was pressed for details about when she had changed her mind about congestion pricing and whom she had spoken to beforehand.While she declined to provide details about the timing of her decision, she described conversations she said she had had with ordinary New Yorkers in diners, naming three diners on the East Side of Manhattan.Her decision leaves a billion-dollar hole in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget, imperiling planned projects and raising grave questions about the future of public transit in the nation’s largest city.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Big Sur Urged to Evacuate as Another Storm Approaches

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      Officials are advising people to leave one of the nation’s most scenic coastal stretches before rain washes away more of Highway 1.California officials temporarily shut down part of Highway 1 on Wednesday and warned residents to evacuate one of the nation’s most scenic coastal stretches as an incoming bout of spring rain threatened to worsen a road collapse near Big Sur.The emergency orders, issued by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the California Department of Transportation, came as the state and local authorities scrambled to rebound from a landslide last weekend in which a sizable portion of Highway 1 crumbled after a day of heavy rainfall.The so-called slip-out, which stranded more than a thousand motorists overnight along the famous state highway, was the product of winter storms that for months have saturated California. The collapse sent massive chunks of pavement tumbling into the Pacific Ocean north of Big Sur and narrowed nearly two miles of road to a single lane.For the last several days, state transportation officials have urged motorists to avoid the area and have gingerly shepherded local and emergency traffic around the missing section of highway. Jim Shivers, a spokesman for the state transportation agency, known as Caltrans, said the twice-daily convoys had accommodated an average of about 150 vehicles in each direction per day.But with rain expected to return on Thursday and Friday, Caltrans canceled the convoys through Friday.“They only expect about half an inch, but we don’t want to take any chances,” Mr. Shivers said. “It’s the end of a wet rainy season, so any additional moisture has the potential for additional landslide or mudslide activity.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More