A Travel Observation

You know those red and white gate things that come down across the road to keep you from going onto the railroad tracks when a train is coming? Well those can be found in abundance in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota but the majority of them aren’t to keep you off the tracks. They’re to keep you off the highway. They are so serious about this that the exit and on ramps have signs with flashing lights that say, “ Road closed when flashing. Return to _____.” The blank is filled with whatever is the closest city. And if you have any question of how serious they are, the amount of the fine for disobeying these signs should be enough to convince you to turn back. $750! These are found on the on and off ramps as well as periodically on the highway itself. I’ve no doubt that when the weather gets bad here in the winter, it gets really, really bad.




Another interesting thing about the on and off ramps… you cross metal grills at the entrances instead of concrete or asphalt. I know, or at least I think I know, these are to keep animals from wandering onto the roadway but having seen at least a half dozen cattle grazing outside of the fences built to keep them in, I can only wonder how effective this is. And of course, here like at home, there have been a number of dead deer lying off to the side of the highway and in one case, in the middle of the road. Metal grills at on and off ramps don’t seem to make much of a difference. Animals know no boundaries.