A primer on how to drive I-5 Siskiyou Summit in the winter: how to prepare and how Oregon DOT and Caltrans manage the 136 miles between Redding and Ashland as a corridor for public safety and mobility.
Went south from St Helens to North of Sacramento on Sunday after Christmas and I can say ODOT does a phenomenal job on the roads. That was the most snow my wife has ever driven through and it was fantastic!
traveld from sf. to portland or.if siskyu was stop i turn north on us 97 tru clamat falls to hwy 50 bak o i 5 few miles shortare no hills exsept down hill on hwy 50 to eugene or bak on i 5 sawed 3 to4 hours any day old drivers we all took dhis road two lane hwys usly better plowed i5 tru siskyu big hills take longer any snow chains law most of the timeyou sawed10 hours go 97 to 50 to5 j.j.
@@RossDmoch I got super lucky. It was pouring through a lot of CA and OR, but the pass was overcast with no snow and dry roads. I coasted through with no issues whatsoever. Bought chains at Walmart in Redding returned them in Vancouver unused. Best of luck!
Trying to imagine stopping to chain up my tires on my 25 mile communte one way on the interstate for work in the winter. 🤯 No, thank you. I'm calling in sick. Though sometimes I wish I had chains.
if you take the time to stop into carwash and clean your vehicle you should have no worries, its not like the Midwest or the east coast. washing the underside of your rig every now and then is sure a ton better than paying for an ambulance and body work after you wreck....
I plowed snow for 39 yrs. for cal trans we used salt & cinders. Made it safe for the traveling public most of the time. Oregon needs to use SALT on highway 140 from Klamath falls to Medford. There’s packed snow all winter , it’s very dangerous road to drive on. Come on O DOT wake up!!!
@@billolson2183 that stretch of road from Klamath to Medford is a nightmare in the winter, i've driven it far too many times. i get anxious every time i know i've got to head that way during the winter months
In car or big truck? Trucks must carry from November through April - or May; I'm having trouble remembering for certain, but I'm 90% certain it's April 30th, the same day POVs have to have studded tires removed.
from seattle to maine snowqualme chain law in winter put em on 20 min just upp ower the hill next on i90 fort of july pass may need chains after that usly free sailing to maine.har travel this road 100 times or moore jj.
My gosh what a mess. Our highways are littered with vehicles. Some day we should come up with a way to stop traveling so much. We will run out of fuel some day. Cowboy out on the farm. My travel consist of two trips a month to store.
Hell I put them on my little saturn sl2 and never had a problem. Spent several winters driving all over Colorado snowboarding. Now if there was more than a foot of unplowed snow I was in trouble because I just didn't have clearance,but that rarely happens. I never felt like I was risking it though once I put those snow tires on. Worth the money for sure.
Joseph Kowalczyk Hope you got where you were going safely. I’m thinking of driving that way and wanted to ask you why they closed the road. Was it due to ice on the road?
Seems like there should be heating elements in the pavement to keep the pass clear.... this is 2021 after all...instead of gender studies in Pakistan we should be upgrading our own infrastructure.
No wind and no sun, how much coal or oil would you figure for 24 hrs. Indians name Siskiyou definition is moving. That one reason why there is many problems keeping power on @Mt. A. Imagine electrical grid in pavement, and how much trouble that would be. Dream generation
Dream generation? Wtf kind of insult is that? I'll bet all the old guys said the same thing about people trying to fly in the late 1800s. If a generation isn't dreaming... That's a problem for the future. Not that I think heating elements is a good idea... maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe it would work in certain small trouble spots.
i've been thinking that same concept since i grew up driving in NW Montana. Some kind of way to radiate underground , geo thermal heat into the road base, it would not take much.
There is heat available from May to September and it does a good job and it's environmentally friendly because it's solar powered. if you need to travel you need to take some physics classes. If you don't take the time to learn physics just go anyway and you can learn as you go into the ditch.
The amount of drivers who are unable to chain up on their own is mind blowing. I have crossed this summit more times than I care count for 30+ years as a driver and I have never seen so much stupid between Redding and the Sissy Q's
What percentage of drivers could change a flat tire, allowing them one hour? Where's the jack, how does it work, where to place it, does it matter if the flat is on the shoulder with soft gravel???? How do you refill the turn signal fluid reservoir? Need i go on???? Old siskiyou chain installer, before installer licenses were mandatory, comrades.
I figured it out fast driving around the mountains in Colorado /utah🤣 A lot of guys have no business driving a truck in the snow over a mountain pass though. First time ever seeing snow and they're driving an 80,000 pound truck through it over a pass😬
Crossed the summit many time in winter from Grants Pass to So Cal. One winter, Caltrans forced everyone to chain up on dry pavement. It was dry all the way past Weed. I was wearing out chains so I pulled them off. 4 wheel drive 3/4 ton truck. Really dumb!
About 18 years ago, Pollard Flat to the bottom of the hill north of Weed near the rest area. Chains required, bare and wet. 23 miles if I remember correctly, driving 18 wheeler.
Used to have that happen on wolf creek pass in Colorado all the time. They would have mandatory chain up for commercial vehicles but the road would only be wet. Like, wtf man. Then that makes guys question if it's actually necessary and skip it when it really is necessary.
@glennrickett6400 last winter on Donner they were having people chain constantly for completely dry days. CalTrans has to be one of the most poorly managed state highway services in the country.
Tell the truck drivers to be careful and slow down on the passes up around Grant's Pass as well. Been stranded more than once by some rookie shutting down I-5 in the freezing cold. Good video, by the way - thanks for keeping us safe!
Yes, ODOT has their moments... good and bad. Like back in July of 2003 when ODOT tried to kill hundreds of motorcyclists (not bikers) by spreading pea gravel on every curve on the Lewiston Hwy (3) from Enterprise, OR to the Washington border. ODOT, please explain the logic behind pea graveling only the curves and none of the straights on a road with no guard rails... in the summer! There's definitely sadistic dark side to ODOT. Just beware
1. Siskiyou pass is in Oregon, by the border 2. Yes it snows in California... In fact the Donner pass in California is one of the snowiest places in the entire lower 48 states, and California is one of the top states in amount of ski resorts 3. Of course not it doesnt snow everywhere in California, but it can snow wherever there are mountains, NorCal or SoCal. You can even find images of Los Angeles with snowy mountains in the background online
@@ChuckinCluck I live in Czech Repulic in Central Europe. It's small land, but we have everything. Mountains, lowlands, fields, rivers & lakes (no sea😞). And 4 seasons. (Snow isn't in southern part. There are vineyards). I want to visit U.S. west coast.🇨🇿🇺🇸🇨🇿🇺🇸
