March/April
2002
Small
Investment, Dramatic Dividends —Saving Lives in Blood Alley
by Dave
Davis
A
notorious northwest Oregon highway corridor has seen a dramatic drop
in traffic fatalities during the past three years thanks in part to
an innovative public-private partnership.
The
partnership drew together the Oregon Department of Transportation
(ODOT), three northwest Oregon counties, a community traffic safety
committee, and a Native American tribe.
The
corridor, dubbed Blood Alley by local residents, encompasses
two highways, the Salmon River Highway (Oregon Route 18) and the
Willamina-Salem
Highway (Oregon Route 22). They serve as the main route between Salem,
the state capital, in the populous Willamette Valley and the Pacific
coast. The corridor also is the only way to one of Oregons top
tourist attractions, the Spirit Mountain Casino at Grand Ronde.
ODOT
officials say the highways are classic examples of what happens when
roads built for the traffic of the 1970s and 1980s begin bumping up
against their capacities. ODOT records show that the average daily
traffic count at the junction of the two highways ballooned from 10,607
in 1989 to 18,520 in 1999. Thats a 75-percent increase
in traffic on a roadway thats basically remained the same for
the past three decades, says Don Jordan, ODOT district manager.
You cant put that many vehicles on that kind of roadway
and not expect to have problems. The 1990s witnessed the opening
of several major tourist attractions along Oregons Pacific coast,
including the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the remodeled Hatfield Marine
Sciences Center in Newport, and a factory store outlet in Lincoln
City.
|
Lights
on for Safety signs were posted along the Oregon Route
18 safety corridor.
|
Two
major gaming facilities also opened during the mid-1990s, Spirit Mountain
in Grand Ronde and the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City. Each
added more traffic to the already congested highways. And with the
added traffic came more traffic crashes.
Beginning
in 1995, the Oregon 18/22 corridor began to experience a significant
increase in traffic fatalities. After recording two fatality-free
years in 1993 and 1994, traffic crashes on Oregon Route 18 claimed
three lives in 1995, three in 1996, two in 1997, then six in 1998,
and 11 in 1999. Fatalities on Oregon Route 22 averaged about three
a year for the same period.
An
analysis of the crashes revealed a high percentage of crossovers —
crashes in which one vehicle crosses over the dividing line into oncoming
traffic and strikes another vehicle head-on.
We
were presented with a challenge, Jordan said. We needed
to find a way to prevent vehicles from crossing over the center stripe.
Usually, that means installing a metal guardrail, a concrete barrier,
or even building a divided highway. Unfortunately, all those improvements
cost money that ODOT just doesnt have.
The
money to build and maintain Oregon highways (aside from federal highway
funds) comes from the state highway fund. The chief source of revenue
for the fund is the states 24-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax.
Revenue flowing into the fund is then parceled out proportionally
to ODOT, 34 counties, and 238 cities.
Oregons
fuel tax rate, however, hasnt increased in nearly a decade,
and each year, inflation takes a bigger bite out of the revenue. Compounding
the problem, the demand for gasoline for each mile driven actually
is decreasing as vehicles become more fuel-efficient. Faced with shrinking
revenue, ODOT shifted its emphasis from increasing capacity and modernizing
highways to simply maintaining the existing system.
|
A
center barrier was installed along Oregon Route 22 west
of Salem, Ore. |
With
bleak prospects for funding major projects in this corridor, ODOT
began looking for low-cost ways to increase safety.
As
part of the search for a solution, ODOT went into the communities
along the corridor to seek ideas for improving the highways. The department
sponsored a series of public meetings, hosted by the Spirit Mountain
gaming facility.
ODOT
also hosted two bus tours through the corridor for local elected officials,
public safety officials, and transportation officials to see the problem
areas firsthand and to seek possible solutions.
Dave
Bishop, ODOT Area 3 manager in charge of construction projects in
the mid-Willamette Valley, said the meetings brought the safety issues
into clear focus.
Everyone
agreed early in the process that our two biggest problems were crossover-type
crashes and collisions at intersecting roads, Bishop said. As
we focused on those problems, we began to see areas where, by pooling
our resources, we could make some low-cost improvements that might
save some lives. In 1996, an 18.5-mile- (30-kilometer-) long
section of state Route 18 through Grand Ronde was designated as a
transportation safety corridor. ODOT uses the designation to signify
sections of highway with historically high rates of crashes. ODOT
had earlier applied the designation to a 10-mile- (16-kilometer-)
long section of state Route 22 west of Salem.
We
use a three-pronged approach to deal with safety corridors: education,
enforcement, and engineering, said Bishop. The designation
itself is mainly an educational effort. We use signing to alert drivers
that theyre in the corridor. The signs also ask them to use
extra caution and turn on their headlights. We also work with local
police agencies on the enforcement piece to increase patrols through
the corridors. In 1999, the Oregon legislature passed a law
that doubled traffic fines in certain safety corridors, including
the Oregon Route 18 corridor.
|
Rick
Midkiff (left) and Steve Barner of the Oregon Department of
Transportation attach a sign warning motorists that traffic
fines are doubled in the safety corridor.
|
Meanwhile,
ODOT formed a public-private partnership. Members included the departments
District 3 maintenance and Area 3 construction offices; the ODOT Transportation
Safety Division; Polk, Lincoln, and Yamhill counties; the Oregon State
Police; the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community(owner
of the Spirit Mountain Casino); the Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission
on Transportation (MWACT), a citizens committee that advises
the Oregon Transportation Commission; and the Highway 18/22 Transportation
Safety Committee.
ODOTs
Transportation Safety Division, the Grand Ronde tribe, and the counties
provided funding. The District 3 maintenance office and the counties
supplied equipment, materials, and workers. The county sheriffs
and the state police provided enforcement. And the safety committee
and MWACT provided support and direction. Working together, this
partnership has been able to make a number of small, but significant,
safety improvements to the highway, said Jordan.
Improvements
have included:
- Installing
turn lanes.
- Widening
intersection approaches and installing sight posts at county
roads to improve sightlines.
- Restriping
and adjusting No Passing zones to improve visibility
and safety.
- Eliminating
a three-mile (five-kilometer) section of shared passing lane.
- Establishing
a uniform speed limit of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per
hour) through the Grand Ronde area.
- Building
off-road launching pads (parking areas) for police
patrol cars.
- Installing
an automatic Traffic Stopped Ahead sign at the crest
of a hill that blocks visibility of an intersection.
- Installing
blinking warning lights near several high-crash intersections.
- Installing
oversize Intersection
Ahead signs that include the name of the crossroad at
all intersections of county roads and state highways.
- Cutting
rumble strips along the shoulders and, in some cases, the center
stripe of the highway.
|
Rumble
strips Route 18 west of were cut into the centerline of state
Sheridan, Ore. |
Cutting
rumble strips in the middle of the highway was a first for Oregon.
It was the first time wed placed rumble strips on a two-lane
highway, and the first time wed placed rumble strips down
the middle lane where there wasnt a median. Jordan said.
Rumble
strips were a direct attack on the problem of crossover crashes,
he said. We suspected that a large number of the incidents were
cases in which a drowsy driver fell asleep and drifted across the
centerline. We wanted to stop that from happening.
Rumble
strips alert drowsy drivers that theyre headed for trouble.
That way, they have a chance to pull back into their lane before they
get involved in a collision. Installing the rumble strips also
took the cooperation of ODOTs Traffic Engineering Section.
Both
our Traffic Engineering Section and our Roadway Engineering Section
went outside the box on these projects, Jordan said.
They worked with us to allow exceptions to normal design standards.
This allowed us to try different low-cost improvements without forcing
the costs outside our capabilities.
And
the rumble strip projects have already paid dividends.
Ive
heard of at least two cases in which people have said the rumble strips
prevented them from having serious accidents and probably saved their
lives, said Jordan.
With
two exceptions, the projects completed in the corridor so far are
truly low cost. The exceptions are:
- A
$2.5 million reconstruction of the entrance and exit ramps at
the Spirit Mountain Casino on state Route 18 in 1998. (The Grand
Ronde tribe paid for this improvement.)
- Installing
about four miles (6.5 kilometers) of concrete median barrier on
Route 22 in 1999 for $480,000.
|
From
a police vehicle launching pad along state Route
18 west of Sheridan, Ore., a Yamhill County sheriffs deputy
and an Oregon State Police trooper monitor the passing traffic.
|
For
the other work, the partnership put together a series of project packages
costing about $30,000 each. The funds came from the ODOT maintenance
and transportation safety budgets; in-kind grants of materials, equipment,
and workers from Polk, Yamhill, and Lincoln counties; and grants from
the Spirit Mountain Foundation administered by the Confederated Tribes
of the Grand Ronde Community.
ODOTs
Transportation Safety Division also provided funding to increase enforcement
and public awareness through the corridor. Working with the Oregon
State Police and the county sheriffs departments in Polk and
Yamhill counties, the division provided funding for increased patrols
through the corridor. An advertising campaign targeted drivers who
travel through the corridor.
Using billboards, tabletop tent ads, bumper stickers,
and movie screen advertising, the campaign focused on the hazards
of drowsy driving and told drivers to Be Patient — Dont
Be a Patient.
|
This
tent card, warning motorists against driving when drowsy, was
distributed to restaurants and other businesses along state
routes 18 and 22.
|
These
small investments have returned dramatic dividends. The Oregon Route
18 segment of the corridor was fatality-free in 2000 after recording
six fatalities in 1998 and 11 in 1999. The Oregon Route 22 segment,
after recording four fatalities in 1998, dropped to one in 1999. Unfortunately,
traffic crashes claimed four lives in 2000. However, only one of those
fatalities occurred in the areas where highway crews had made improvements.
We
are not ready to declare victory yet, said Jordan. Traffic
continues to increase each year, and we know we need to do some major
work to continue to improve the safety of this highway.
We
have received great cooperation from all our partners in this effort.
Although we havent had a lot of money to spend on these improvements,
we have made the most of what weve had available.
It
all comes down to doing whatever we can to meet ODOTs number
one priority of making our highways safe for the people who use them,
he said. We will work with our partners in the Oregon 18/22
corridor to make these highways even safer in the future.
Dave
Davis is the public information officer in Region 2 of the Oregon
Department of Transportation.
Other Articles in this issue:
"Stone-Walling"
in Arkansas
Arkansas
Combines Best Practices for an Innovative Insterstate Rehabilitation
Program
Small
Investment, Dramatic Dividends — Saving Lives in "Blood
Alley"
National
Review of the Highway Safety Improvement Program
Weather:
A Research Agenda for Surface Transportation Program
Highway
Quality Awards
FHWA
Model Predicts Noise Impacts
Synergy
in Action: FHWA's Transportation Pooled-Fund Program