WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Michigan Department of Transportation has won a national safety award for installing 5,700 miles of "rumble strips" down centerlines of Michigan's rural highways.
MDOT is one of 10 agencies recognized this year for "innovative, lifesaving projects and programs" that focus on roadway safety.
The 2015 Roadway Safety Awards, sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and Roadway Safety Foundation, were presented in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Nov. 16.
"More than 32,000 people died in traffic crashes in 2013 and millions of individuals suffered injuries," Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau said. "Innovative roadway safety programs are a critical part of saving lives and preventing injuries on our nation's highways."
When looking at crash data from 2004 to 2007, MDOT officials determined that lane departure had contributed to nearly half of the fatal crashes in that period.
To address this concern, they embarked on a statewide effort to install rumble strips on all non-freeway, high-speed rural roads managed by MDOT between 2008 and 2010.
The centerline rumble strips were placed on all MDOT's rural, non-freeway highways with posted speed limits of 55 mph and appropriate paved lane and shoulder widths. The project also included the installation of about 1,700 miles of shoulder rumble strips.
A March 2015 study on the initiative conducted by Wayne State University's Transportation Research Group found that, after it was completed, the "target crashes" along the impacted roads were reduced by 47 percent.
The study: Evaluation of non-freeway rumble strips -- Phase II
Fatal crashes, according to the study, where reduced by 51 percent.
"Michigan Department of Transportation's statewide rumble strip installations and research confirmed that centerline rumble strips significantly improve public safety as well as give transportation agencies in Michigan and other states the data they need to implement their own initiatives," said Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The Wayne State University study compared three years of crash data following the installation of the new rumble strips to the three years before they were installed.
The study projected that the initiative will, each year, reduce Michigan's number of crashes by 337, save 16 lives and eliminate 62 serious injuries.
Watch a public service announcement titled "Rumble Strips Save Lives" produced by MDOT and released in 2008:
The National Roadway Safety Award recipients were evaluated on three criteria:
- Effectiveness
- Innovation
- Efficient use of resources
The Wayne State University study supported MDOT's claims that the rumble strip project was an efficient use of taxpayer resources, concluding the "benefit-to-cost ratio" was between 58:1 and 18:1 and estimating a total safety benefit of more than $79 million over the three-year period.
The national awards were divided between two different categories:
- Infrastructure and Operational Improvements
- Program Planning, Development, and Evaluation
MDOT's project was one of five projects recognized under the first of those two categories. The others were:
Arkansas: Improving Interstate Safety with Pavement Surface Treatments
Florida: Advanced Lighting Measurement System
Texas: Texas Department of Transportation San Antonio TransGuide Wrong-Way Driver Project
Virginia: Road Diets in Reston
And the five award winners in the second category were:
Montana: Roadway Departure Study and Safety Information Management System
Washington: 2014 County Safety Program
Virginia: Deployment of HSIP Projects Using Virginia-Specific Safety Performance Functions
Florida: Texas-Americana Road Safety Small Area Study
Florida: Safe Mobility for Life Coalition
Roadway Safety Foundation Executive Director Greg Cohen said projects like those honored by the awards are vital because "deficiencies in the roadway environment contribute to nearly one-third of all traffic deaths."
"The National Roadway Safety Awards are an opportunity to recognize the unsung heroes who plan, engineer and implement creative measures to help save lives on a daily basis and rarely receive credit for doing so," Cohen said.
For more information on the National Roadway Safety Awards visit: www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards/.
Mark Tower covers local government for MLive/The Saginaw News. Contact him at 989-284-4807, by email at mtower@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.