MDT is prioritizing two-lane highways that have been sites of these types of roadway departure crashes: head-on, side-swipe from the opposite direction and left-side off-the-road crashes.
HELENA - The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) will continue centerline rumble strip installation on several of Montana's rural two-lane highways starting this month. The implementation is part of MDT's Vision Zero initiative to eliminate death and serious injury on Montana roads by preventing roadway departure crashes, which occur when a vehicle drives off the road or into the oncoming lane of traffic.
According to MDT, in the decade between 2006 and 2015 roadway departure crashes were the most common crash type in the state and accounted for 67 percent of highway fatalities and 56 percent of severe injuries. Ninety-five percent of those fatalities and severe injuries happened in rural areas.
"Roadway departure crashes in Montana are not only our most common type of crash but our most severe, often because they occur at high speeds and involve the impact of another vehicle, an object or a rollover," said Roy Peterson, MDT traffic and safety engineer. "By implementing measures to keep vehicles on the road and in their traffic lanes, we save lives. Centerline rumble strips have proven very effective in other states in reducing fatal and severe injury crashes by keeping drivers alert and on the road."
Similar to shoulder rumble strips that have been utilized on the state's highways for decades, centerline rumble strips are grooves in the pavement that alert drivers through a rumbling noise and vibration that they are veering out of their traffic lanes. In Montana these rumble strips are being installed along the yellow centerline of two-lane highways.
A March 2017 study by the Federal Highway Administration reported that centerline rumble strips implemented in states, including Minnesota and Washington, have reduced total roadway departure crashes as much as 42 percent and fatal and severe injury crashes as much as 73 percent.
In Montana, MDT reports a reduction of roadway departure crashes on two-lane highways where centerline rumble strips were initially installed - including a 44 percent reduction in crossover crashes on U.S. 310 south of Laurel where centerline rumble strips were installed in 2014 and a 25 percent reduction on MT 16 north of Glendive where the rumble strips were installed in 2013.
This construction season road crews will complete centerline rumble strip installation in the MDT Great Falls district encompassing much of central and north-central Montana, including stretches of U.S. highways 2, 87 and 89 and other shorter routes. This includes Montana Highway 200 west to Clearwater Junction, Montana Highway 83.
Work in the Glendive district in northeast Montana and in the Missoula district in northwest Montana will be completed in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The statewide centerline rumble strip implementation began in 2015 in MDT's Butte district in southwest Montana and followed by the 2016 installation in the Billings district in southeast Montana.
"Centerline rumble strips are installed in both passing and non-passing zones," Peterson said. "They are not meant to deter safe passing of other vehicles or bicyclists, rather they are meant to alert drivers and motorcyclists that they are crossing the centerline of the highway into the oncoming lane. That alert is a wake-up call to drivers who unintentionally cross the lane because they may be distracted, drowsy or experiencing poor visibility in severe weather conditions - all factors that can lead to severe or fatal head-on or sideswipe crashes."
For priority installation of the centerline rumble strips, MDT is targeting the stretches of two-lane highway that have been the site of at least one fatal or severe injury roadway departure crash over a five-year period, have posted speed limits above 45 mph and are in rural areas, outside of more densely populated suburban areas. In particular, MDT is prioritizing highways that have been sites of these types of roadway departure crashes: head-on, side-swipe from the opposite direction and left-side off-the-road crashes.
"Centerline rumble strips are not only very effective at preventing crashes," Peterson added, "they are also one of the most cost-effective safety solutions. Compared to an average total reconstruction highway cost of $1 million per mile, centerline rumble strip installation costs $5,000 per mile."
More information about the Montana rumble strip implementation - including a detailed installation map - can be found at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/visionzero/rumblestrips. For the safety of road crews and all vehicles, MDT asks drivers to obey all traffic laws and speed changes during the installation period.
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