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Week of Mar. 5, 2007
It’s safety first for King County roads
Guardrails are placed in locations to help prevent vehicles from rolling, flipping, or sliding down steep slopes. | King County is investing more than $1 million in roadside safety this year, as it kicks off the biggest program of guardrail construction ever in the unincorporated area.The King County Road Services Division will begin work this spring to install 25,894 linear feet of new guardrail on county roads and retrofit another 8,962 feet of existing rail that doesn’t meet current standards. It will be funded by $550,000 in county money and a $500,000 federal Rural Roadway grant. “Guardrails are an important component in our overall roadside safety program, but they are not the only component,” said Mark Mitchell, King County’s engineering supervisor for traffic operations. “What guardrails do is provide protection to drivers when the alternative of going off the road is more severe. We use them in locations where vehicles are prone to flip or roll, or where there are steep slopes or waterways next to the road.” The county’s complete roadside safety program includes adding and repairing guardrails, widening shoulders, and removing hazardous objects such as trees and mailboxes that are close to the road.
A damaged guardrail before replacement. | Mitchell said King County uses traffic safety data to develop a list of high-accident locations. Each location is evaluated for its accident history, road configuration, and operational characteristics. That information is then used to prioritize and implement safety improvements both on the road and along the roadside.Priority for new installation of guardrail is given to those roadways that rank the highest based on their need for rail, posted speed limit, traffic volume, crash history, roadway length, and severity of roadside hazard. The priority projects for new guardrail construction in 2007 are:
• Lake Alice Road Southeast near Fall City
• Avondale Road Northeast north of Redmond
• Southeast 368th Way near Enumclaw
• Southeast Issaquah-Fall City Road near Fall City
• Ames Lake-Carnation Road Northeast
• Old Woodinville-Duvall Road
• Southeast Green Valley Road near Black Diamond
The same guardrail after replacement. | The Roads Division is also putting an emphasis on guardrail replacements. For the past three years, the division has been focusing on retrofitting as many of the existing guardrails as possible. The goal is to upgrade older guardrails to meet current roadway standards. Also, new safety standards require rails to be installed higher off the ground to provide a better barrier for SUVs and other vehicles with a higher center of gravity.The county’s retrofit list is lengthy. King County has 1,840 individual guardrail systems in the unincorporated areas. A “system” can be of varying lengths, and can consist of any combination of metal rail, wooden posts, or concrete barriers. Each stand-alone section is defined as an individual system. Dan Dovey, the project engineer for the countywide guardrail program, said some of the guardrail systems were installed more than 70 years ago, and even the newer ones must be retrofitted to meet frequently changing standards. Dovey said work on both the new installations and retrofit projects in the guardrail program is non-stop. While construction is going on this spring for projects designed last year, engineers will begin planning the next round. The budget for the next phase is also about $1 million and construction could start as early as October. This is a big increase in spending and work for the guardrail program, which had averaged about $400,000 annually in recent years.
Metro provides mobile shelter for accident victims Last week, a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 90 at the Snoqualmie Summit created a lot of problems for the Washington State Patrol. But, King County Metro Transit was able to help with one big headache – transporting stuck motorists to food and shelter. Police and fire agencies frequently request a bus from Metro when they need to shelter people displaced by accidents, fires or other emergency incidents. Last week, the accidents began in the afternoon on Feb. 28, when heavy snowfall caused spinouts and crashes. The 50-vehicle pileup eventually closed down westbound I-90 for several hours. Troopers asked Metro to drive a bus to the pass and transport 12 people and two dogs. Some were dropped off in North Bend, where they could call friends and family to pick them up. Others were taken in vans by Metro supervisors to local motels. “The WSP was very, very appreciative of our effort. They were stretched quite thin and could not have transported any of these folks,” said one Metro supervisor. |
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Remember, Daylight Saving Time begins three weeks earlier this spring – arriving on Sunday, March 11. This is not only important for setting your clocks, but it also makes a difference if you are riding the bus this weekend. The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, extended Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the United States by approximately four weeks. Beginning in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier and end one week later, resulting in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than previously observed. These four weeks are referred to as the "extended DST period." For Metro Transit passengers, it means planning ahead if you will be traveling by bus late night on Saturday, March 10 or early morning on Sunday, March 11. If you ride the bus Saturday night, including 2:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. “Night Owl” trips, wait to set your clocks ahead until after you are done riding buses for the night. All Metro trips leaving bus bases on Sunday morning operate on Daylight Saving Time. If you are planning to ride Sunday morning service, be sure to set your clock ahead on Saturday night. See Metro Online for all the details. | Subscribe to DOT DashSign-up to receive an e-mail text version of "Transportation Today," along with other significant DOT news by sending an e-mail to us with subscribe King County DOT Dash in the subject line.
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