Downed wires block intersection Around Town, posted by Editor, Mountain View Voice Online, on Dec 10, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Both directions of a Mountain View street were closed this afternoon, and phone, Internet and cable television services were disrupted after a large box truck pulled overhanging wires down onto the roadway, according to a spokeswoman with the Mountain View Fire Department.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, December 10, 2012, 1:41 PM
Posted by I can drive safely, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 1:47 pm
No, a vehicle didn't do this all by itself...I'm thinking there was a driver involved. Just a wild guess. Bust out those motorcycle cops MVPD. Seems the drivers simply aren't learning to slow down and control their vehicles in this area. Their careless attitudes are costing us all.
Posted by resident, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Very strange writing in this article. Other news reports say that the truck (in the photo) hit the cables. Why were the cables were so low over the road in the first place is still unknown.
Posted by Ron, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 2:16 pm
@I can drive safely: What are you posting about. How is this about drivers not driving safely. You can drive as well or as poor as you want and still not be able to hit hanging cables. If this was a truck with a high payload, that explains it to a point, but the cables should not be reachable by traffic unless they were low for another reason.
Posted by resident, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I agree not to rush to judgement. I live in the neighborhood and these power lines seem to be connected to the power line pole that had been repaired or replaced just a month ago. Why power lines should hang so low when there are "normal" sized trucks going by seems odd. Glad no one seems to be hurt
Posted by resident, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Moving cables underground is very expensive, both for the city and for the residents. Palo Alto put their program on hold due to the cost and the city or utilities only move the public part of the cables. Residents have to hook up to it at their own cost, which local electricians charge $10,000 and up for, so not many Palo Alto residents are complaining about the end of this program.
Posted by Tom, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 6:03 pm
The low cables were the result of PGE recently replacing a power pole that was dangerously leaning. They left the remnants of the old pole with the Comcast cables attached. The old pole was no longer in the ground, but was left being held up in the air by a gerry-rigged piece of timber. This was an accident that was waiting to happen. Apparently, PGE has a policy of not attaching other company's cables to their new poles.
Posted by Driving, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 7:33 pm
7pm: I just drove on Miramonte and had to detour around the Castro intersection. MV Police and what looked like a PGE cherry picker had the entire southbound lanes blocked. It looked like something had just happened though. I had to U turn with the rest of the traffic so I did not see what was going on. Anyone know????
Posted by Oracle of OMG, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 10, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Tom, above, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood,has the totally correct answer. I walk by that area every day and I have been wondering when the cable was going to be raised. The truck in question does not appear to be any higher than many similar trucks including Safeway and USPS that constantly use Miramonte.
Posted by David, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 11, 2012 at 11:23 am
The city emergency services did a poor job of handling traffic displaced because of this incident. No "Road Closed" signs, traffic rerouted onto streets that loop back onto themselves, and cops just standing around talking to each other rather than assisting drivers or redirecting traffic were just some of the problems I encountered.
Posted by Resident, a resident of another community, on Dec 11, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I live right around the corner from this intersection and was coming home from the Blossom Valley area after work at 7:30PM. I don't understand why Miramonte wasn't blocked at Trophy Drive for people to u-turn there instead of routing them at the next right onto Eichler Drive. They had to go through the little neighborhood there, which just took them on a loop back to Miramonte where they still had to turn left. Only this time they had to navigate across traffic coming on their left, cross the intersection, and then turn left. Hundreds of cars went whizzing by my house on Trophy due to cars being routed this way. It was a little scary having people speeding down our little- travelled street to get back to Miramonte to be on their way. Couldn't MVPD have done a better job directing the flow of traffic? This had already been going on for several hours, so there should have been enough time to get this organized before 5 o'clock traffic.
By the way, what is our neighborhood called anyway? This would include El Camino down Miramonte past McKelvey to Castro, Graham Middle School and the Sports Pavilion, and back up Castro to El Camino? I never see this as a choice and we don't seem to fit in any of the choices in the Voice neighborhood selection drop down. I always say the little Eichler neighborhood off of Miramonte, but it seems like we should be part of something bigger.
Posted by Driving, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 11, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Very poor job directing traffic. In fact, the police did nothing at all. I saw cruisers all over but not one was directing traffic. Miramonte's south lanes were all closed. All the cars heading south passed the light at St. Joseph's, then just came to a stop. They sat there until one by one they all decided to make U-turns on Miramonte. It was messy. Cars turning into each other. Northbound traffic, distracted by the police lights, were nearly running into U-turning cars. I thought it was a recent accident when I came by at 7pm, and the emergency crews had not got their act together yet.
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