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Published Tuesday, July 07, 2009 in Local
Photo by Sarah Fay Campbell
A 20-foot grass median is all that separates north- and south-bound drivers on I-85 south of the Moreland exit. When the widening project is complete, there will be 12-foot emergency lanes on each side. But that is not enough, says Coweta Commissioner Randolph Collins, who wants to see cable barriers or a guardrail installed to prevent crossover accidents.
No barriers on I-85 south of Moreland
The Times-Herald
While concrete barrier walls are what greet motorists traveling on Interstate 85 north of Bullsboro Drive in Coweta County, narrow grass medians are the norm from the Moreland exit to south of the Grantville exit.
Currently, just 20 feet of grass separates north-bound and south-bound drivers on I-85 in the southern Coweta stretch.
Georgia Department of Transportation officials say there are no plans to erect guardrails or cable barriers along that stretch of the interstate.
Once the I-85 widening project is complete in Coweta later this year, there will be 12-foot wide emergency lanes on either side of the median. That makes the total "recoverable zone" 44 feet wide, said Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, a DOT spokeswoman. With a zone that wide, there is no requirement for a guardrail or cable barrier.
Though there may be no requirement, the barriers are needed, in the opinion of Coweta County Commissioner Randolph Collins.
"The median is so flat and there is nothing there to catch a vehicle," said Collins, who is a Georgia State Patrol trooper, and former member of the GSP's Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team that investigates serious accidents.
There have been two fatal crossover accidents on I-85 just south of Moreland Exit 41, Collins said. The most recent accident, on June 22, claimed the life of Teresa Parham of Columbus. Parham had been traveling southbound in the left lane when she lost control of her car. According to the Georgia State Patrol, Parham was able to bring her car back into the travel lane, but then lost control again and ended up crossing the median. Her vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer truck and she was killed instantly.
While the I-85 construction is under way, the speed limit is 50 mph. "So what are we going to do when it gets to 70 mph?" Collins asked.
The Federal Highway Administration approved the installation of cable median barriers for the project, according to DOT District Engineer Thomas Howell. But there is no funding for the barriers.
"This is a safety concern... they don't have the money to pay for it. But let's find the money," Collins said.
Many interstate medians have a ditch running through the middle of them, and are banked steeply. South of Grantville, the median is so steep, Collins said, that he has gotten his patrol vehicle stuck trying to get across. But between Moreland and Grantville, "you're going straight across where it is flat."
It's a good thing that there will be left-hand emergency lanes, Collins said.
"But there is nothing there to catch a car.
"It is human instinct that, if there is a crash in front of you, or you're too close for some reason, you go left or right," Collins said. "If you are in the left lane, the only place you can go is to the left, and then you lose control."
"You're traveling 70 mph, and, all of a sudden, the car in front of you does something stupid," Collins said.
"You try to avoid it, you go left, and you're going into the median. And then you're head-on into somebody else."
Crossover crashes are some of the most violent. When two cars hit head-on at 70 mph, "how do you survive that?" Collins asked.
The DOT is currently concentrating on areas of the state where medians are less than 40 feet wide, Paulk-Buchanan said.
"There are quite a lot of these in the state," she said. "Unfortunately, the simple truth of the matter is those have to take priority over anything that is greater than 40 feet," she said. "Financially, we don't have the money to tackle all those."
"Ideally," Paulk-Buchanan said, median guardrails or barriers would be along every interstate in Georgia. "But we don't have the money."
It's a matter of dealing with the most-vital projects first. "The medians that are narrow, those are the ones that have to be prioritized," she said.
When asked if any federal stimulus money could be used to install the cable barriers, Paulk-Buchanan said she doubted the project would be eligible. Safety projects are typically separate from construction projects, she said.
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This sounds like a wonderful project for a civic organization like Kiwanis, Pilot, Chamber of Commerce, or a combination of all of them. Why does it have to be the STATE doing everything? Why can't the county take care of the part that passes through our neck of the woods? Do it and put up a sign that says "Hey, look what we did!"
Posted by E L Wright at 11:40 AM
Oh Really--- The money for the guardrails is being given to some attorney in TN to protect us from Starship so we can die from a car crash :)
Posted by Tom at 10:45 AM
No money? What exactly are my tax dollars going into again? How about Georgia handle our money more correctly in the future and we won't have this problem. Instead of building more and "trying" to populate the area than what it already is, how about we revitilize what we already have and stop being greedy and spending the money elsewhere. My 2 cents.
Posted by Oh really at 9:24 PM
If two cars traveling at 80 mph crash into each other there will be a lot more carnage than at 50 mph. If a car traveling at 80 mph losses control and begins to cross the median it will take longer to come to rest than a car traveling 50 mph will. A car traveling 80 mph covers 117 feet per second. A car traveling 50 mph covers 73 feet per second. At that rate if it takes you 1/4 of a second to react you will need almost 12 more feet to do so. So how is speed not an issue.
Posted by Oscar Valerious at 3:06 PM
There are barriers down there. They happen to be in place to protect the new exit signs, go down and take a look. Seems people may not be high on the list of important things.
Posted by Skip at 12:20 PM
If there is no guard rail then There will be many head on collisions on that portion of the interstate. Meaning more lives lost!
Posted by Ryan at 11:05 AM
How about using proposed stimulus money for the Greentop Road bridge project for the median barriers instead, after all, greentop is just a shortcut to Herring Road. I'd rather see the safety of thousands put ahead of short cuts for hundreds.
Posted by John at 9:29 PM
I agre with using the money from Grantville. They made lots of money from people speeding. The fines were crazy high and some of this money could be used to put in barriers or guard rails.
Posted by Amanda at 9:19 PM
People need to make a note of this story or better yet make a copy of it. Randolph Collins is a state trooper and he knows what he is talking about. If my family dies I would use this in court to prove my case. Its clearly unsafe and it won't be long before somebody gets killed.
Posted by New Peach at 5:13 PM
Why not use the money the Grantville PD is making off of tickets to pay for the barriers? Just last month they made more than $125,000 in one court day - I was there. Average tickets were $550 and there were 249 people in the courtroom.
Posted by Bt Mei at 4:30 PM
FIND THE MONEY! It is typical for a government agency to skimp on safety!! I guess it will take another person getting killed for anything to be done, which as always is too late. There should not be a price tag put on safety, you can't rebuild a human being.
Posted by Jim Sulkanen at 2:56 PM
It's not the speed that is the problem, it is the lack of skill of the drivers along with the distractions of eating, drinking coffee, doing makeup or reading. Europe allows much higher speeds on narrower and curvier highways. The drivers there are well trained prior to getting a license. If you would claim only speed is a factor in accidents, how do you explain accidents in stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic?
Posted by h at 2:27 PM
I wish the police were out more often to stop people that speed at 80-85 mph. I am on the interstate every morning at 07:30 and people pass me doing 80+ and I never see a trooper. We would have less accidents if people would just slow down. The fines alone would pay for the barriers that are needed.
Posted by 85 commuter at 1:18 PM
One death is too many when the circumstances can be avoided. This can be avoided and should be. FIND THE MONEY!
Posted by Oscar Valerious at 1:16 PM
FIND THE MONEY!
Posted by Reader at 12:38 PM
My theory is this- if I can read the bumper stickers on other cars, I'm too close.
Posted by Mary at 10:51 AM
There are too many drivers on 85 anyway. A few dozen fatal accidents should solve that. Good thinking DOT!
Posted by 3 at 9:11 AM
just as soon as a few people die, they will install them
Posted by Armchair Vigilante at 8:18 AM
Why not have the contractor put the temporary concrete barricades in the median until a more permanent solution can be completed? I'm sure a quick change order to the project would allow AW to do this while the project is still underway.
Posted by G at 8:06 AM
Take gap, leave gap. Anyone even know what that means anymore? If your "surprised" by the care in front your too close.
Posted by Skip at 7:57 AM
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Not for lack but for greed!
7/10/2009
Link To This Comment
So many comments are focused on the safety issue and its not looking at the root cause of this. The flat medians with no dividers allow the local deputies and state patrol to cross and follow speeders, etc. Some comments related the high revenue generated by tickets.. welll HELLLLOOOOO!!! Why kill the cow that gives you milk? So come on people. Its not about safety its about making money. Its not about not having money, its about making mone. Its not about us, its about THEM! Last comment.. why does it take an average of 5-10 minutes for a deputy to arrive at a crime scene or call when 4 or 5 of them are sitting in the medians watching traffic or parked side by side talking to eachother? This story seeks to divert the issue and it does a good job.. Propaganda writers should be proud!
Posted by DCP2 at 8:48 AM