NYSDOT Begins Installing Centerline Rumble Strips

ALBANY, NY (05/22/2012)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Joan McDonald today announced that use of Centerline Audible Roadway Delineators (CARDs) has begun on eligible roads across New York State. Centerline rumble strips, located along the pavement markings dividing opposite-direction travel lanes, are a low-cost measure designed to reduce dangerous head-on and opposite-direction sideswipe crashes.

"Our goal is to find the best, most cost-effective ways to keep motorists as safe as possible, which is why we have added centerline rumble strips to our toolbox of safety measures," Commissioner McDonald said. "Centerline rumble strips will protect motorists from deadly head-on and sideswipe collisions."

Federal Highway Administration New York Division Administrator Jonathan McDade said, "Safety is our top priority. Centerline rumble strips are among the most important and cost-effective safety devices available today to prevent cross-over crashes on our roadways. New York drivers will unquestionably be safer because of them."

NYSDOT will be adding more centerline rumble strips across the state this year and next year as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's innovative NY Works program. CARDs can be installed on appropriate sections of the anticipated 2,000 miles of new pavement that is funded through NY Works.

Rumble strips save lives and prevent serious injuries by alerting drivers with an audible warning (rumbling sound) that they are leaving their driving lane. Rumble strips also cause a physical vibration to vehicles when they begin to stray into oncoming traffic lanes. They help combat distracted driving and can alert drivers to lane limits when weather conditions reduce driver visibility or roads are covered with snow.

Centerline rumble strips cost an estimated 30 cents per foot and are expected to last about 10 years, making the safety measure extremely cost effective. While shoulder rumble strips consist of parallel grooves approximately 12 inches wide and a half inch deep cut into the roadway, centerline rumble strip grooves are shallower at 3/8 inch deep and spaced 24 inches apart. This provides the desired safety results, while reducing ambient noise.

A 2009 study by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program supports the use of centerline rumble strips as a safe and cost-effective collision countermeasure, citing a 64 percent reduction in head-on and opposite-direction sideswipe crashes that result in fatalities or injuries in urban areas, and a 44 percent reduction in similar fatal and injury crashes in rural areas.

CARDs could be installed at locations that meet all of the following criteria, which are consistent with federal guidance:

· The speed limit must be 45 MPH or greater;

· Traffic volume must reach at least an average of 2,000 vehicles per day;

· The combined width of the lane and shoulder must be at least 13 feet in each direction;

· The length of centerline rumble strips to be placed must be 1,500 feet or more within a project; and

· The location must not have raised medians, two-way left-turn lanes or median barriers.

Installation of CARDs is a part of scheduled capital paving and reconstruction projects along stretches of highway that meet the criteria, as well as highways resurfaced through the NY Works program. CARDs will not be used in front of major driveways, on concrete bridge decks or in intersections, crosswalks and left-turn lanes.

Preventing lane departure crashes, including head-on and sideswipe collisions, is an important part of New York's Strategic Highway Safety Plan. At least 29 other states are already using CARDs, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and California.

In New York State, approximately 120 deaths and 3,500 injuries occur each year from non-intersection head-on and opposite-direction sideswipe crashes, and at least one in five crashes has distracted driving listed as a contributing factor.

For more than 10 years, NYSDOT has successfully reduced the rate of run-off-the-road crashes by utilizing rumble strips on the shoulders of interstates. Made a common feature on controlled-access highways in 1995, shoulder rumble strips reduced the number of run-off-the-road injuries and fatalities on New York State roads by an average of 60 percent.

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