DOT installs cable barriers to prevent collisions
Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- A series of cable barriers installed along Interstate 35 near Ankeny worked so well in keeping cars from crossing into oncoming traffic during this spring's winter storms that the Iowa Department of Transportation is looking to expand the system.
Tom Welch, a DOT traffic safety engineer inspected the cable barriers after winter storms battered Iowa in late February and early March.
"I was really impressed. There were locations where the posts were all knocked down, but the cable was still effective in its ability to stop vehicles from penetrating it," Welch said.
The experiment along the three-mile stretch of I-35 has been so successful that the DOT plans to install an additional 61 miles of cable barrier, mostly along Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa, over the next five to 10 years, Welch said.
In Missouri, metal cable barriers in the median of Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City, has reduced traffic deaths, researchers said.
In 1999, there were 22 deaths resulting from cross-median crashes on I-70. Last year, there were only two deaths along the same stretch of highway, according to the Missouri DOT.
When many interstate highways were built in the 1950s, a driver who lost control and crossed the median was unlikely to hit another vehicle. But today, the chances of a collision are much greater because of increased traffic, said Brian Chandler, a safety engineer with the Missouri DOT.
By reducing the possibility of head-on collisions, the cable barriers lower the risk of serious and deadly crashes, said Scott Falb, a safety planner for the Iowa DOT.
When vehicles collide that are headed in the same direction, less force is usually involved than in head-on crashes, he said.
Scott Feyereisn, a truck driver from Champlin, Minn., who was driving home to Omaha, Neb., said the cables are a good safety tool.
"If it can keep a car from crossing the center and hitting head-on, I think it's a good idea," he said.
It costs the state about $170,000 per mile to install the cable barriers.
Work on expanding the system is scheduled to begin next year along 10 miles of I-35 north of Ankeny to Story County. The DOT is scheduled to install 14 miles of barrier on I-80 from one mile east of U.S. Highway 151 in Iowa County east to U.S. Highway 6 in Johnson County.
There are no plans to install cable median barriers along all of Iowa's interstate highways.
Welch said there isn't enough traffic to justify the costs, but that could change as traffic increases.
"This is just becoming an issue in Iowa, whereas it has been a bigger issue in other states for years," Welch said.
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Tom Welch, a DOT traffic safety engineer inspected the cable barriers after winter storms battered Iowa in late February and early March.
"I was really impressed. There were locations where the posts were all knocked down, but the cable was still effective in its ability to stop vehicles from penetrating it," Welch said.
The experiment along the three-mile stretch of I-35 has been so successful that the DOT plans to install an additional 61 miles of cable barrier, mostly along Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa, over the next five to 10 years, Welch said.
In Missouri, metal cable barriers in the median of Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City, has reduced traffic deaths, researchers said.
In 1999, there were 22 deaths resulting from cross-median crashes on I-70. Last year, there were only two deaths along the same stretch of highway, according to the Missouri DOT.
When many interstate highways were built in the 1950s, a driver who lost control and crossed the median was unlikely to hit another vehicle. But today, the chances of a collision are much greater because of increased traffic, said Brian Chandler, a safety engineer with the Missouri DOT.
By reducing the possibility of head-on collisions, the cable barriers lower the risk of serious and deadly crashes, said Scott Falb, a safety planner for the Iowa DOT.
When vehicles collide that are headed in the same direction, less force is usually involved than in head-on crashes, he said.
Scott Feyereisn, a truck driver from Champlin, Minn., who was driving home to Omaha, Neb., said the cables are a good safety tool.
"If it can keep a car from crossing the center and hitting head-on, I think it's a good idea," he said.
It costs the state about $170,000 per mile to install the cable barriers.
Work on expanding the system is scheduled to begin next year along 10 miles of I-35 north of Ankeny to Story County. The DOT is scheduled to install 14 miles of barrier on I-80 from one mile east of U.S. Highway 151 in Iowa County east to U.S. Highway 6 in Johnson County.
There are no plans to install cable median barriers along all of Iowa's interstate highways.
Welch said there isn't enough traffic to justify the costs, but that could change as traffic increases.
"This is just becoming an issue in Iowa, whereas it has been a bigger issue in other states for years," Welch said.
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