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Subscribe to RSSWandering packs of wild hogs are creating a dangerous situation on Texas' new 85-mile-per hour toll road, triggering three crashes the first evening the highway was open. KXAN's Shannon Wolfson reports.
Life in the fast lane might not be all it's talked up to be.
That's because drivers in Texas are reportedly running into wildlife on a newly opened section of the Lone Star State's Highway 130 — which has been widely touted as the fastest road in the nation with a posted speed limit of 85 mph. The 41-mile stretch of public-private toll road, which runs between Austin and San Antonio, opened to drivers on Wednesday.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that at least two hogs and a deer have been hit on the road since it opened. Officials say no drivers were injured in those incidents, according to the newspaper.
The hogs are a normal sight in the area — Texas claims the largest feral hog population in the country, according to the Express-News.
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On Thursday, a driver had minor injuries after the first vehicle rollover happened on the road close to Interstate 10, according to the Express-News. An official with the Texas Department of Public Safety told the newspaper he does not believe speed was a factor.
Just one day after the fastest highway in the nation opened, a car rolled over resulting in minor injuries. It's unknown at this point if speed was a factor. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
This toll road extension was built and is being maintained by the State Highway 130 Concession Co., according to the Express-News.
"As on any highway, we have had sporadic reports of vehicles colliding with wildlife," a spokesman for the private company, Chris Lippincott, said in a statement Friday.
Lippincott also noted that State Highway 130 "is subject to the same laws and enforcement as any state highway." He said they could not provide comment on the accidents, as they are under investigation.
The new span of toll road is intended to alleviate congestion on parts of Interstate 35, which runs parallel.
Utah is the only other state in the country with posted speeds at 80 mph, with that as the limit on portions of Interstate 15, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
With a speed limit of 85 mph, the 41-mile stretch of toll road between Austin and San Antonio could be the beginning of an autobahn concept in the U.S. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.
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So the implication is that they don't run into animals on other roads in the area?
Geez, another 10 mph and people act like the world is coming to an end.
Many a driver has been going over 90 mph and approaching 100 mph. With that said, there will be deaths due to the collision between the drivers and these animals. There's a point where there is just not enough time to react and at these speeds, the accidents will be more severe. It won't be long before someone loses their life to a hog --- and it won't be due to an STD...
Time to make some bacon! Or have a BBQ!
Seriously though these hogs are bad news and do alot of damage both financially and to the enviroment/eco system and they can be very dangerous. If I understand right you don't even have to have a hunting license or buy a tag to shoot them in Texas since they are such a problem. They are a major nuisance and more of them need to be brought down. Way worse then deer. population problem. Start shooting them, processing the meat and giving ist to the needy. Gets any worse shoot and leave for the coyotes.
As far as hitting them on the road, happens everywhere and should be expected on this road too. I agree there is even less time to react but usually at most speeds, even 55 on a back county road its too late. Not sure what the article is trying to get at?? Did they think 85 ment the animals wouldn't cross??
Perhaps they should put up crossing signs in other locations to get the animals to cross as one lady in North Dakota seems to think thats how they work for those of you who haven't listen to the recording. Got to check it out. Was on MSN a week or two ago. Makes you wonder about some people.
It is time
Lol everyone goes 80 85+ on the 15 freeway here in California..
Big Al,
how many times do you see a whole herd of wild boars crossing the 15? some of which can get up to 500+ lbs?
In GA those boars are all over the place. Especially in the rural area where I live. Those damned things can get up to 1500 lbs !!! Believe me...u hit one of those and you're history. I haven't hit one yet but I did hit a deer and it did over $7k in damage to my car !! I was only going about 50 too.
My family members were on 130 and hit a group of around 25 hogs. Some of the hogs ended up under their suv, they lost control and flipped about 10 times. It was a miracle they survived. They did suffer injuries and lost two family pets. If they were in any other vehicle, they might not be here. I would never travel this road at night, it is very dangerous at any speed.This road has no lights, no warnings or fences to keep the hogs off the road. Something needs to be done.
I've been to Texas many times and have seen many two legged hogs,and they vote: GOP.
Good one, LMFAO
Nice comment...but, I remember "Landslide Lyndon" and Anne Richards.
Tony, you are a moron. I don't expect much class from a libtard though. You think voting for a socialist is cool beans. You also think 5 more trillion of debt and more welfare is just peachy. Thanks for helping ruin our country even further libtard.
youdon'tknowjack, jack. The GOP and your buddy Bush put this country into recession with its policies and your buddy Mitt wants to put us right back there. How soon the GOP sheep forget. Hopefully you can remember to stay off the road.
Hey, youdon't knowjack, you think it's cool beans to vote for a heretic who follows the false prophet Joseph Smith? Romney is a blasphemer who spits in the face of the One and Only True God, and he and any who follow him will be cast into the fiery pit of hell for all eternity! In earlier times he would have been burned at the stake by the Church.
Insert roasted pig joke here..
You @!$%#ed up youdon'tknowjack it's actually 6 Trillion more in debt and a @!$%# load more freeloaders.
Obama and Biden worst bunch of douchebags to ever grace the oval office.
Biden is @!$%#ing lunatic that the rest of the world thinks gee this guy is an @!$%# 8)
Obama is the most corrupt pathetic lying @!$%# talking Chicago crook politician I have ever seen 8)
Anything but Obummer and Dimwitty 2012
Tony, Tom and Fitz, you'all are welcome to come on down and visit Texas during hunting season.
Wonder why the economy of Texas is doing so much better than the libtard states? Must be jealousy causing you to repeat left wing talking points.
I have a brilliant idea. Let's start a grassroots campaign to only allow those who can discuss the election without sounding like an ignorant teenager to vote. That means if you have to resort to insults on religion or calling names, you couldn't vote. It would make counting up the votes on election day much easier.
Some of us Americans have absolutely had it 8( we have seen this great Country turn into a pile of @!$%#.. The Democrats in my State of Commiefornia are so stupid and traitorous it's pathetic.. Keep voting Democrapola and you will end up like the Socialist Republic of Commiefornia 8(
Tons of Freeloaders
Tons of Illegals sucking my tax money and cheating the system while millions wait to become American Citizens. Go Back home you Illegal Alien Bastards.
Tons of Laws that take away freedoms and liberties.
Tons of Regulations that hurt our Economy and Tax Revenue.
Business Friendly NOT
2nd Amendment friendly NOT
Raising your taxes until you are Broke YES
Prop 30 and 38 are failing 8) F U Brown.. The Unions can @!$%# off and suck it.
I am sick of funding your sweetheart pensions while the rest of us actually have to put our own hard earned cash into our retirement.
peace out and have a great weekend it's 4:20 all day tomorrow 8p
Hey...youknowImajackass....but you think it's "cool beans" to vote for a FASCIST. That makes you a NAZI supporter. HEIL moron !
Hey, it's Texas. They can do pretty much whatever they want. Maybe they'll allow drivers to shoot the hogs from the road and even keep what they shoot. The people of TX, Mr. 'bad animal', may take offense to your remark, so it might not be a great idea for you to ever go visit that state and identify yourself in public. Just stay in Californica where you are.
I'm in Californica? Verily you are the world's greatest detective.
Did you also know that I'm playing Quidditch?
Cut him some slack animal. He's from Texass.
I live in CA and this exact thing happened last year on my way home from work. I saw this very large object about a mile or two ahead. From a distance it looked like a cow got loose and was running right down the middle of the highway. As I got closer I see this hog about 1000 lbs.+, and like 5 feet high running wild. I had to pinch myself, it didn't seem real. Anyway that's my experience, true story.
I can attest to them being that big and bigger. I live in an area in GA where we have THOUSANDS of these damned things and they can reach 1500+ lbs.
"public-private toll road"
WTF ??? Could they be talking about the toll roads that the government idiots sold the rights to Spain to come in and run?? Talk about a bunch of disgusting low life politicians! When is the f*ing Government going to out source it's self to a Foreign Government. Grrrrre..
So Texas couldn't find any American entities wiling to long term invest in the toll roads? Interesting... and Americans blame others for their decline
Oil and prisons are the Texas bread and butter. Roads take overhead to run which cuts into profits.
Been in Texas many times and have great friends there so Bad Animal you are showing your ignorance.As far as animals are concerned every road I've ever been on and being a retired truck driver I've seen road kills.Thats nothing new so why make something out of nothing!!!
He is just a troll Howler. Always jumps on these Texas stories. With an name like bad animal I will assume he is the feral hog!!!
You're cute. What are you doing later??
badanimal- what am I doing later; well I am going huntin' some bad animals
Is "huntin" a euphemism for sex? You kids and your crazy slang...
come on down to Texas and find out, you are so bad. Probably don't have the guts being from California and all. Heck fire your probably one of them insane phycos thats killin' people there in california.
That is feral. Are we role playing now?
You'll be a great White hunter and I'll be a runaway slave? I have some post coital rules though.
1. Don't go through my wallet.
2. Don't touch me after we're done.
3. Don't ask if it was good for me
Thats good food!
Hopefully all the red states will follow Texas's lead on the speed limit issue.
sure hope badanimal stays away, someone might just run over his badanimal ass
Wow...someone hit a hog and a deer...that's an every day occurance in Missouri on the roads...and it happens on TX roads that AREN'T toll roads...it happens in CA as well...oh wait, those are ILLEGAL ALIENS...
Speed had nothing to do with it.
people hitting animals on roads has been going on since cars started using roads. Before that, horses had the sense not to hit another animal.
This isn't news. This happens everywhere, just different animals. Like in Detroit, you have to swerve to miss the double barrell thugaroos and in Chicago, you have to be careful of the four clawed greedy teacherettes. Only problem in Texas is you don't have free phones to call for help like you do in those other areas. I hope the libtards keep giving a hard time to Republicans because when Obooma bankrupts this nation, they will starve and as the great Hank sings, a country boy will survive. Looking forward to it.
You're not even trying man..
youdonknowjack - yesterday to are posting stop with the POLITICAL crap this isn't a political story and GD I hate people like you. Now today you are making political comments on this non-political story. You know who you sound like? I will give you a clue, it sounds like tit. flip-flopper
Tom, a liberal started the political rhetoric see
TONYWARVET
I've been to Texas many times and have seen many two legged hogs,and they vote: GOP
You people don't know Texans very well they love this sh^%^$t. It doesn't matter how fast your going, just how fast you get there.
Pigs on the highway..........don't we always watch out for them when we are driving fast? :l They hide behind billboards and carry ticket books that really can ruin your day.
What are they doing on the highway? I thought pigs could fly.
Perhaps the feral hogs could be relocated to Iran. Wildlife in the road is pretty much universal.
Just because the speed limit on this one stretch of road is a little higher, you bus/subway riding city dwellers should know that most traffic rolls along at 80+ once you get out of sight of the tall buildings. Did you think the explosion of fast cars by every manufacturer, aftermarket speed parts, high performance tires, brakes and suspension systems are all so you can go down and rotate your car to a different parking spot near your apartment? While you are plodding down the crowded sidewalk thinking about your twitter account, the rest of us are rolling down the open road watching the telephone poles turn into a picket fence.
Enjoy!
People driving really fast always puts me in my place.
I see a car zip by and go "Wow! and I don't even have a Twitter account" and plod along (even slower) to my destination...
If a muslim leaves San Antonio at 8 pm driving to Austin at 85 mph and hits a pig....
I don't think they allow muslims in Texas. That's really why they keep all the hogs around.
Pretty sure they keep the hogs there for Sadie Hawkins Day...
I know. I know. His bomb goes off, right? Hey, I can hope.
I love how the morons who live in CA poke Texans ... I lived in CA for more than 30 years because that's where my job was; I couldn't wait to get out when I retired ... you're the idiots who voted for "Moonbeam" Brown and his zillion-dollar train to nowhere when the state is so heavily in debt it will never get out ... Texas is a wonderful place, full of friendly people, low taxes and, yes, lots of hogs ... hitting one will certainly spoil your day, but my wife had a deer run into her door when she was traveling about 20 mph ($1,500 in damage) .... can't wait to get out on 130 and turn my bike loose ... you CA losers, please stay there and pay the fourth highest tax bills in the country .. I like it here fine, no state income tax, low property taxes and I have all the government I need, thank you very much ... and you might remember that, unlike in CA, the government in Texas trusts its citizens to carry firearms ... if you visit, Animal Butt, suggest you keep your yap shut ...
Me visit Texas? That's like asking Flipper to come out of the sea and roll around in a New York City gutter..
And here you said Texans were friendly. What happened to you Bill?
Oh deer, them drivers have gone hog wild now.
What's the hurry?
Been on that road many times. Don't remember seeing I-10 anywhere along there.
It's I-35, not I-10. Furthermore, I-10 in West Texas has had a 85 mph speed limit for nearly a year.
Road only recently opened. And it starts on I-10 east of San Antonio.
What we need in Texas is a year round unlicensed hunting season on feral hogs. We need to have large groups out hunting in an organized way. Have drivers and beaters to make the hogs move toward the areas where the shooters are. We have to knock them out 100 at a time every weekend in every county if we are going to put a dent in the numbers.
As a Texan who knows that area, and the roads surrounding San Antonio and Austin, it seems the animals are attracted to the roads for the simple fact that people throw trash, food, and other items out their windows. Even cigarette butts along side the roads are a favorite item for the Texas Hill Country white tail and axis deer. It's as if drivers bait their own traps, and the next day drive the same route, throw there trash out, and the cycle continues. This issue of hitting animals on the road is not a new item. It is at our attention for the simple fact of federal highway mandates, and the funding surrounding Texas highways, is the focus. When the law passed on I-10, to move the limit from 55 mph to 65 in 1986, it was a contingency....the federal funding, or not funding. OK...it is not political. From that point on, I know nothing about the subject, or the latest 80mph boost, and now the 85 mph. Just a thought.
"I had the greatest respect for the authorities of my day --- until I studied things for myself, and came to my own conclusions."
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Looks like speed IS a factor when you fail to figure in animals that may wonder into the road. Hogs,deer or any road kill being picked over by buzzards. Ever seen a buzzard do $2k worth of damage to a cars front grill? Hit one at 85mph and it'll be your passenger when it comes through the windshield.
I see stationary cars rolling over ALL the time.
Don't know why everyone's talking about 85 mph speed limit. Most Texans think it's a "no limit" state, particularly between San Antonio and El Paso or similar "open spaces" highways. It's not uncommon to be driving 90 and have someone blow pass you like you are a grandma driving 25. Best way to avoid wild game on the road is not to drive after sunset or before sunrise.
In fear of being called anti-Muslim why don't they try to round up some of these "wild" hogs from Florida, Texas, Georgia and other states put them on some planes and deliver the animals to our friends in the middle east (Iran, Iraq, etc). These animals will help us by eating all of those opium poppies and would be a gift to help out all those starving women qand children killers.
Are you afraid of being called stupid?
Leave it to liberal trolls to make any non-story regarding Texas a political dig. Don't you have anything better to do?