A series of high profile big rig crashes on Interstate 5 in Sacramento, California, have raised safety concerns about the highway’s road surface conditions.
In one of the crashes, a fatal wreck involving a FedEx semi truck that plowed through the highway median, officers said speed was not a factor.
Although an investigation is still underway, California Highway Patrol’s Mike Bradley refused to say “whether the roadway is faulty,” instead leaving that determination up to the state’s transportation agency, Caltrans.
On Tuesday, Caltrans conducted several highway skid tests on Interstate 5 and seems to have answered that question — by launching an immediate plan to regrind the roadway in order to create more friction and increase vehicle tire traction.
The agency hasn’t yet published their results, but responded to an inquiry from The Sacramento Bee with the following:
“We are still analyzing the data, but the early results indicate that something needs to be done to improve the friction of the roadway. We plan on doing some ‘profile’ grinding later this week or early next week to improve the roadway friction.”
The official results of the the Interstate 5 skid tests are expected to be released on January 1st.
