Cable median barriers

Remember a few years ago when Interstate 64 in this area was plagued with crossover accidents? A driver would lose control, cross the median and collide head-on with traffic moving in the opposite direction. Too many times, the results were deadly. But now most of I-64 here has cable barriers to prevent crossovers. We took our cue from North Carolina, which had installed them before we did. Cable barriers are less expensive than concrete dividing walls, and they can be installed much more quickly.

An AP story that moved for today’s papers say a number of states are investing in cable barriers. Ohio has spent $5.5 million since 2003 to install 83 miles of cable barriers and is working on 30 more miles at a cost of $2.2 million. Ohio had 18 fatal median crossover crashes in both 2004 and 2005, but none in areas where there were cables.

Missouri has cable barriers on more than 200 miles on interstate highway.

The work here is not done. The last I checked, we did not have cable barriers all the way to the Kentucky state line. We need them along every mile of I-64 where there is not a concrete dividing wall. I-64 may have been engineered to the standards that existed in the 1950s (although I have my doubts about that), but the road is not that well engineered for today’s driving. All four-lane roads need cable barriers, but the interstate system definitely needs them.