Date:  Friday, April 22, 2011

Contact: Kris Olsen, WSDOT communications, 206-440-4475 (Shoreline)
Mark Hammer, Project Engineer, 360-757-5832 (Mount Vernon)

April 25, 2011 UPDATE: Rumble strip work planned for the evening of Monday, April 25 is cancelled.

KENT – Have you ever seen a car or truck drift off the highway then suddenly and dangerously correct itself? It’s a serious hazard that soon should become less common on State Route 516.

Starting next week, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will install two miles of rumble strips on SR 516 from about Military Road to S. Washington Ave. in Kent.
 
Shoulder rumble strips are designed to alert drivers that they are leaving the roadway. Grooves or rows of raised pavement markers are placed perpendicular to the direction of travel. As a vehicle passes over the rumble strips, noise and vibration are produced to alert motorists.
Research shows that shoulder rumble strips are a cost-effective solution that can dramatically reduce often fatal and serious-injury collisions. Statewide, run-off-the-road collisions account for 18 percent of collisions, but 30 percent of fatalities. An evaluation of rumble strips installed elsewhere in Washington found they reduced run-off-the-road collisions by 40 percent.

Motorists can expect nighttime lane closures on SR 516 from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. for two to four nights, beginning Monday, April 25. Local residents might hear the nighttime operation, though it will be moving at a steady pace along the highway in both directions. This work is weather dependent and will be rescheduled if it rains.

Please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Design/Policy/RumbleStrips.htm to learn about rumble strips.

WSDOT awarded this $59,562 contract to Stripe Rite, Inc. in February. As part of this project, crews also will install rumble strips in Whatcom County along SR 548.

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