Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Freeway technicians stand by stranded
Roving helpers aid freeway drivers with blown tires, engines
Chuck Gianni doesn’t care much about being in the spotlight. If it were up to him, he’d just carry on with his daily routine as a roadside technician.
The 46-year-old ex-firefighter would clock in at 11:30 a.m., slug at least 2 gallons of water in his service van, listen to the radio, make his stops and clock out eight hours later.
But Gianni hasn’t been able to do that much recently. He’s been stuck lugging news teams around so they can report on what the Freeway Service Patrol does to help motorists when the temperatures hit triple digits.
Gianni is a technician for the Nevada Department of Transportation service, roaming the freeways to assist stranded motorists and clear the road of debris. The service has crews in Las Vegas and Reno, and has been around since 2005.
He’s not sure why he was chosen as the media liaison, but he takes the role in stride, giving tips on how to approach flustered motorists who may not want to give interviews.
“It freaks people out just to have a whole bunch of cameras jumping out,” Gianni said. That is especially true “in a bad moment when their car’s broke down,” he added.
Six freeway service vans run from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Las Vegas during the week, and two additional incident response vehicles patrol until 10 p.m. Scaled-back service is
offered on the weekend, with patrols traveling to the state line to help motorists coming in and out of California.
Transportation Department spokesman Tony Illia said State Farm insurance companies provide about $330,000 in annual sponsorship to help fund the service, which aided 19,285 disabled vehicles last year in Southern Nevada.
Drivers must go through the Nevada Highway Patrol to get assistance, or be noticed by technicians passing by. Each van has a specific route along either U.S. Highway 95 or Interstate 15.
The technicians can help motorists fill up with gasoline, change tires or add water to the radiator. They also can provide resources for calling a tow truck. And Gianni always makes sure anyone who needs cold drinking water has it.
On an average summer day, he’ll make upwards of 15 stops, mostly for blown tires or overheated engines.
The intensity of the heat may be overwhelming in the air, but it doesn’t come close to the heat of the pavement, which regularly claims tires.
Paris Modisett knew that danger all too well as he helped his wife, Angie, who blew a tire on U.S. 95 on Tuesday. He spent an hour waiting on the roadside in 111-degree heat for a private roadside assistance company to change the tire before Gianni showed up.
“This is a day you do not want to have a flat,” Modisett said, with sweat beading on his forehead.
Tom Nobles, 34, was stuck on the roadside near Boulder Highway. He had filled his tire at the gas station but noticed his car wasn’t driving properly, so he pulled off to be safe.
His tire was losing air, so he decided to change it. He had a jack in his trunk but didn’t have the crank to lift it. Within 10 minutes of Nobles being on the side of the road, Gianni had spotted him, replaced the tire with a spare and filled it with air.
“Man, that’s awesome,” Nobles said to himself, looking relieved.
In cases where a tow truck or repair vehicle are already on the way, Gianni plays a supporting role. He turns on his lights behind the scene and angles his van toward the retaining wall to create a barricade.
Should his van be hit by any of the cars that come whooshing by, it would help protect any motorists in front of him. The van’s angle also creates a small space between traffic for Gianni to access the tools and water in the back. He is often mere feet from cars in the fast lane that rock his van as they pass.
On a routine stop near Primm on Easter Sunday in 2013, a vehicle driving on the shoulder struck Gianni’s parked van while he was inside.
“It pretty much knocked some sense out of me,” he said.
The impact busted his knee, and he suffered an 80 percent tear in his shoulder. He also faced complications with his neck and back, and was unable to work for 2½ years.
The Bay Area native could have walked away from the dangerous job forever, but he came back to work to keep doing what he has always done.
“I like helping people,” he said. “I’ve been helping people my whole life.”