Riding home last night from work, while going heading north on a flyover between Mopac and 183, there was a swam of police cars blocking the southbound flyover, and I saw several officers with flashlights peering down over the side of the bridge to the road 50′ below.
This particular flyover is a sharply-curved single lane, where cars switch freeways at about 60 mph, even though the posted “safe” speed is 35 mph. The only thing keeping you from going over if you mess up is a 3-foot tall concrete retaining wall.
I didn’t see a wreck or any non-police vehicles on the road, so I had a sinking feeling that somone had gone over the side of the bridge.
This was in this morning’s paper:
A 58-year-old man died early Wednesday morning after he apparently lost control of his motorcycle on a freeway flyover and fell about 50 feet, Austin police said.
Police found the motorcycle on the flyover connecting southbound U.S. 183 to southbound MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) at about 3:30 a.m., but couldn’t find the driver, police spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz said. At about 6 p.m., a passer-by found the man’s body in a grassy median below the flyover, Chovanetz said. The man was wearing a helmet, she said.
Whenever I ride over these flyovers, I’m always exceptionally cautious, and I always envision what would happen if I didn’t make the curve and hit that wall. My vision is exactly what happend to that rider last night.
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UPDATE — Police identify rider as Jimmy Erwin of Austin.
My daughter hit some gravel on that flyover while driving her Sentra and lost control of her car. Fortunately she just tore up the side of her car. Thank goodness she wasn’t on a motorcycle.
Left by Jim Howard on February 22nd, 2007 at 1:18 pm