<VV> Grades

[WadeHalsey]

The design limit is 6% but exceptions are granted. Many truckers (my son 
is one) consider Sandstone Mountain on I-64 near my hometown of Beckley 
WV  to be one of the hardest to negotiate. Watch your rear-view mirror 
for fast approaching trucks with smoking brakes on this stretch of 
interstate. Following is an exchange I copied from a trucker website.   
Wade Halsey

 > > What is the steepest grade on an Interstate?
 >
 > The steepest 'Interstate' grade which I know of is in West Virginia.
 > Sandstone Mountain on I-64 east of Beckley, WV. Five miles of 7%
 > grade.
 >
 > Truck wrecks are a regular occurrence. The nastiest wreck I know of is
 > when a runaway tractor-trailer attempted to use an escape ramp which
 > was already occupied by another tractor-trailer. That one took a while
 > to pick apart.
 >
 > WVDOT installed a mandatory truck brake inspection area at the top of
 > the mountain, but there is no information about the grade ahead. Just
 > a sign indicating that trucks ought to inspect their brakes and "Hope
 > you make it down alive!"

 >I have heard of quite a few accidents occuring on Sandstone Mountain
 >since it opened in 1988. I believe the length of the downgrade is
 >seven miles but five or six of those are straight 7% grade. Certaintly
 >a qualifier as one of the longest and steepest interstate grades in
 >the nation beacuse it was through a design exception that the 7% was
 >allowed.

>
>> The Rockies are so steep that the roads have switchbacks, which 
>> lessen the grade. Back here in Ohio and probably where Dale is 
>> talking about in Michigan, the roads go straight up the hill, without 
>> switchbacks, meaning a steeper grade.
>
>
> Any place you cross a mountain range there are going to be steep 
> grades. Typically 6-7% is the most you will see on an Interstate 
> (think there is a design limit). What you need is a long, sustained 
> grade and the hardest I know of is the climb out of Needles headed 
> East on I-40: long, hot, and brutal on a car.