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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Attack of the Bulldozer

Bulldozer with Ripping Claw
I read a thriller once where the bad guys used a bulldozer to assassinate some politician. The bulldozer lay in wait alongside a single lane temporary road that wound through a construction site. When the politico's car came along the bulldozer lurched out of hiding, hit the car and pushed it off the far side of the road where it fell down an embankment which resulted in the politico's death. This scenario seemed a little far-fetched, but hey, it's a thriller.



Because Intel has been building more and bigger factories here in Washington County, the economy is booming, the population is growing and traffic is getting heavier. Sunset Highway keeps growing. The latest project is widening the highway between 185th and Cornelius Pass. The first step of this project was to build a new bridge over Rock Creek. They did this in the median between the existing East and Westbound lanes.

The space is kind of restricted, so there are Jersey barriers (those 'movable' concrete barricades) along the side of the road. I drove by there today and as I am driving by a big, fat, bulldozer is backing up at an angle and if he doesn't turn in the next couple of seconds he is going to come over the top of that barrier and smash into my truck.

Fortunately, the operator was intent on doing his job and not trying to kill me, so he turned and I sailed right on by. A little unnerving, but it made the scene from the thriller a little more plausible.

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