Dead Man's Curve
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"Dead Man's Curve" is the unofficial but commonly used name given to hazardous curves on Interstate Highways and other roads in the United States that have claimed lives due to accidents.
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[edit] Cleveland Innerbelt
The most famous curve is the nearly 90-degree turn on Interstate 90 near downtown Cleveland, Ohio, at the point where the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway connects to the Innerbelt Freeway just south of Burke Lakefront Airport.[1] The advisory speed is 35 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour), although the maximum safe speed limit is 50 mph (80 km/h), as on adjacent sections of the Shoreway and Innerbelt.
Dead Man's Curve was constructed as part of the Innerbelt project in 1959. It soon became apparent that the curve was too sharp for travel at typical Interstate speeds, and in 1965, the state lowered the speed limit from 50 mph (80 km/h) to 35 mph (56 km/h). Four years later, authorities completed the first set of safety retrofits, which included banking the curve and installing rumble strips and large signs.
According to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), the crash rate on the Innerbelt (which includes Dead Man's Curve) is two to three times the regional average for urban freeways, despite the reduced speed limits on the roadway. The department is investigating ways of enhancing safety on the stretch, including a complete realignment of the roadway to reduce the degree of the curve. According to a 2003 ODOT count, 95,090 vehicles travel on the curve every day.
The official ODOT name for the curve is the "Innerbelt Curve",[2] but the nickname "Dead Man's Curve" is commonly used colloquially and in traffic reports.
[edit] Other sharp curves
Other roads and highways have sections known as "Dead Man's Curve":
- A stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California was immortalized by Jan and Dean in the song "Dead Man's Curve". It is located near the Bel Air estates just north of UCLA's Drake Stadium.[3]
- Interstate 83 (Jones Falls Expressway) in Baltimore, MD,[4]
- Interstate 20 just east of the Birmingham, Alabama airport, at its junction with Interstate 59; engineers were forced to build a curve into the highway to avoid a cemetery.[5]
- A sharp bend in U.S. Route 50 (Columbia Parkway) east of Cincinnati, Ohio.[6]
- A sharp turn on eastbound Interstate 70 near Morrison, Colorado that is preceded by a seven mile (11 km) stretch of a 6.5% grade hill, which has been the site of numerous fatal runaway truck accidents.[7][8]
- A treacherous stretch of Interstate 75 in Northern Kentucky known as "Cut-in-the-Hill".
- A sharp, sudden turn on U.S. Route 175 (C. F. Hawn Freeway) at the interchange with SH 310 southeast of downtown Dallas, Texas.[9]
- Sharp turn on Interstate 75 just north of downtown Dayton, Ohio.
- Sharp turn on Missouri State Route 34 just east of Garwood, Missouri in Reynolds County.
[edit] References
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Cleveland
- ^ Chapter 4.0: Conceptual Alternatives – Innerbelt Curve, Cleveland Innerbelt: Conceptual Alternatives Study, Ohio Department of Transportation/Burgess & Niple/URS Corporation, 2006-08-11. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Los Angeles (Sunset Blvd)
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Baltimore
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Birmingham
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Cincinnati
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Colorado
- ^ Gathright, Alan (2007-07-12), "Stretch of I-70 has deadly legacy", Rocky Mountain News, http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5626064,00.html, retrieved on 2007-07-13
- ^ Google Maps view of curve in Dallas
[edit] External links
- Encyclopedia of Cleveland History — Innerbelt Freeway
- Sweeney, James (2001-04-22). "Roadblock to improving safety; Inner Belt changes being studied, but Dead Man's Curve might be dead end". The Plain Dealer. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%200F30057A52734EB6%20)&p_docid=0F30057A52734EB6&p_theme=aggregated5&p_queryname=0F30057A52734EB6&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=I70I58VVMTIwNDA2OTM2My44Nzg4NTk6MToxMjoxOTguMzAuMjI4LjA&&p_multi=CPDB. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
- Sweeney, James (2001-04-22). "Dead Man's Curve could be worse - in fact, it was". The Plain Dealer. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%200F30057A6132259F%20)&p_docid=0F30057A6132259F&p_theme=aggregated5&p_queryname=0F30057A6132259F&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=C5DF45CCMTIwNDA2OTM3My44MzgxNTE6MToxMjoxOTguMzAuMjI4LjA&&p_multi=CPDB. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
- Cleveland Innerbelt Plan (Ohio Department of Transportation)
- Pictures of downtown Cleveland roads, including Dead Man's Curve
- ODOT traffic counts
- Video of Dead Man's Curve westbound (0:44)
- Snopes.com page regarding the Los Angeles curve
