Rare fallen trees led to I-90 tragedy near Lookout Pass - Ravalli Republic
But forested medians – those occasional islands of trees that divide freeway traffic flowing in opposite directions – can turn deadly, as tragically demonstrated during the violent storm of Aug. Chris Ramsey, 21, a University of Montana student and gymnast and coach at Bitterroot Gymnastics, died after the sport utility pickup he was driving rammed into two large trees that were blown down on Interstate 90 four miles east of Lookout Pass... “We’ve had trees fall onto the interstate before, but we never had a horrible outcome like this one was,” said Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. The trees that fell were both live green trees that stood outside of the “clear zone” of roughly 30 feet, according to the Montana Department of Transportation. “They look for trees that are hazardous or in imminent danger of failure, such as leaning trees, rotted trees, trees that aren’t healthy, and at that point in time those trees are removed. “It’s a process the department monitors all the time, in all of our areas in Montana that we have treed or forested medians. Fallen trees have shut down traffic on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass in Washington in recent years, and one that fell in June on the same interstate during a storm in southern Minnesota crunched a car. Source: ravallirepublic.com
