Published: June 12, 2007 10:54 am      

Cable barriers to be installed in medians of area roadways

Stretches of interstates in Clark and Floyd counties are at high risk for crossover accidents and soon will be equipped with cable safety barriers in the median, officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation said Monday.

After an eight-month study of the safety barriers, INDOT officials determined them to be extremely effective in preventing crossover collisions, and will spend $20 million to install them along several areas of Indiana interstates, according to a press release.

The exact design for the barriers has not yet been approved nor has the bidding process started, but INDOT spokeswoman Megan Tsai said they should extend the entire length of Interstate 265 — the six-mile stretch of roadway that connects Interstates 64 and 65 — as well as about five miles north on Interstate 65 and a few miles west on Interstate 64.

Tsai said Hoosiers can expect to see them being installed sometime in the next two years.

“We’re extremely pleased INDOT is moving forward with cable safety barrier installation,” said Indiana Federal Highway Administration Division Administrator Robert Tally in the press release. “It’s a tragedy that vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 4 to 34.

Indiana engineers identified interstate segments with the highest risk for crossover median crashes that are often head-on and estimated that, if installed, the barriers could prevent more than 100 serious crashes a year.

The cable barriers are a fence of high-tension cable wires that, when struck, direct the vehicle along the wires and often capture the vehicle between them. The posts — which are actually designed to come out of the ground upon impact — and wires absorb the majority of the energy from the crash, Tsai said.

The barriers reduce the chance of a vehicle crossing the median into oncoming traffic or bouncing back into traffic traveling in the same direction. They are best suited for grass medians and not concrete medians, Tsai added.

INDOT began field testing the cable barriers in late 2005 to evaluate their effectiveness. They were later installed north of Indianapolis on I-65 between Zionsville and Lebanon, along Interstate 69 between Noblesville and Anderson and along a portion of the Indiana Toll Road. These roadways were chosen because of their high rate of crossover crashes.

Since installation, the barriers along I-65 have been struck 69 times. No serious injuries occurred when the vehicles hit the barriers, and at least one semi-truck was stopped from crossing over into rush-hour traffic, Tsai said.

Also, Kentucky officials have credited recently installed median cable barriers with preventing serious crashes. Some of the barriers can be found along Interstates 64 and 71 near Louisville.

“These barriers are really incredible,” Tsai said from Indianapolis Monday afternoon. “Several of these probably would have been fatalities.”



So you know

These are the preliminary locations where the Indiana Department of Transportation plans to install fence-like cable barriers aimed at preventing vehicles from crossing highway medians:

• Interstate 64: section in Floyd County near New Albany.

• Interstate 65: most of stretch through Clark County near Jeffersonville and Sellersburg; section in Jackson County around Seymour; stretch from near Edinburgh to Greenwood in Johnson County; section in Boone County near Lebanon; entire route through Tippecanoe County in Lafayette area; section in White County near Wolcott; section in Jasper County near Rensselaer.

• Interstate 265: entire section from I-64 to I-65 in New Albany area.

• Interstate 69: section in DeKalb County near Auburn.

• Interstate 70: stretch in Wayne County around Richmond; section from around Greenfield to near I-465 on east side of Indianapolis; stretch from I-465 on west side of Indianapolis to a few miles past Plainfield; section in Vigo County near Terre Haute.

• Interstate 74: stretch from I-465 on west side of Indianapolis to Brownsburg area.

• Indiana Toll Road: section in St. Joseph County near South Bend; section in Porter County east of the interchange with I-94.

— Indiana Department of Transportation