2 hurt as vehicles on New York State Thruway hit by quarry blast debris

This has not a good week for high school band students traveling by bus to competitions. First, there was the accident outside of Philadelphia as referenced at http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2007/05/tour-bustractor-trailer-crash-closes-pa.html. On Friday, limestone from the nearby quarry owned by Albany, NY-based Callanan Industries, went wayward and pelted a charter bus with 52 people traveling down the New York Thruway near Amsterdam, NY. The bus was traveling from the northeastern Connecticut town of Grosvenordale to the bustling metropolis of Toronto (news reports on the radio that I heard mentioned Niagara Falls as opposed to Toronto).

Two girls were taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam for examination as a result of the 80 pound boulder that had struck the bus. One girl had injuries to her neck and back, and the other girl's injuries were not disclosed at this time. Another car was hit by another rock from the same quarry, and the driver of the car, Colin Seddon of Utica, NY, suffered abdominal injuries.

As a regular traveler of the New York Thruway between Albany and the Central and Western New York State hubs of Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, this does concern me. Not only do I have to worry about the regular conditions that affect driving (weather, speed, etc.), but apparently I now have to worry about flying debris coming from around the bend as well.

Story: 2 hurt as vehicles hit by quarry blast debris - Albany Times Union

I heard this story first by listening to the Joe Gallagher Show.

Comments

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog