King County looking for feedback on 2011 road safety projects

Improving safety on several high-collision roads in unincorporated areas will be the focus of several King County Road Services Division projects in 2011. Although the work won’t begin until next summer, the division is currently seeking feedback as engineers design the specific improvements.

The county will work on six arterial roadways where a number of collisions occurred in which motorists either crossed the centerline or drifted off the side of the road. The project is funded by a $500,000 state grant.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, about 18 percent of all crashes are single vehicle run-off-the-road crashes. Yet, they account for 30 percent of all the fatal crashes on Washington State highways. The rates are similar for collisions on King County roads.

In an effort to reduce these types of collisions, the Road Services Division will be improving signage, installing reflectors on guardrails, adding rumble strips to centerlines, and adding the strips to road shoulders when there is also enough space to accommodate bicyclists. The rumble strips are embedded into the roadway and create noise and vibration to alert drivers that they are leaving the travel lane.

The project locations under design are:

• Southeast Preston-Fall City Road between Southeast Highpoint Way and State Route 202;
• Southeast 400th Street north of Enumclaw between State Route 164 and State Route 169;
• Southeast May Valley Road south of Issaquah between State Route 900 and Issaquah-Hobart Road;
• Southeast North Bend Way between 372nd Avenue Southeast and 394th Place Southeast;
• Southeast Petrovitsky Road east of Renton between 140th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 232nd Street; and
• Vashon Highway Southwest the entire length of the island.

Work is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2011. No roads will be closed while crews are doing the installations, but there could be rolling lane closures.

People are invited to ask questions or comment on these projects before Friday, Nov. 5, while they are still in the design phase. Call project manager Henry Perrin at (206) 263-6138, or email him.