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I-4 crash deaths make guardrails top priority

Work will begin late this year or early next year on 22 miles of interstate, officials said.

By JEAN HELLER
Published July 2, 2005

TAMPA - A deadly epidemic of Interstate 4 median crossover accidents in Hillsborough County has caused the state to speed up a program to install heavy-duty median guardrails that it once hoped to avoid using on Florida's busiest highways.

Florida Department of Transportation District 7 officials decided this week to accelerate the guardrail program on 22 miles of I-4 in Hillsborough County between Interstate 75 and the Polk County line after three crossover accidents claimed four lives in 10 days.

Contracts will be signed for the I-4 work in October, and it will begin late this year or early next year, FDOT officials said Friday.

The decision is the latest in an evolving state transportation policy that began several years ago when FDOT officials realized that extra-wide grassy medians without guardrails were not preventing head-on collisions in crossover accidents on interstates. They have been working ever since to get guardrails in place as fast as budget constraints allow. The plan is to put median barriers on every interstate in Florida and toll roads operated by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.

"Guardrails in themselves are a hazard," said Dwayne Kile, design engineer for FDOT. "Guardrails don't stop accidents. When they're hit, they flex and then deflect the vehicles back in the direction they came from. But if a car is thrown back into traffic going in the same direction, an accident will probably be less severe than a head-on collision in opposing traffic."

Officials expressed concern Friday about traffic conditions on I-4 and other area expressways over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend. They promised a heightened police presence - often in unmarked vehicles - on area interstates and toll roads.

"We're going to be working with the Highway Patrol to supplement their resources to assist on the interstate," said Col. Greg Brown, head of patrol services for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "This county should not be one of the most dangerous in the state to drive in."

Brown said he suspects that excessive speed, improper lane changes, tailgating and inattention are at the root of most crossover accidents, with inattention including such things as talking on cell phones and eating while driving.

"It's time to drive and do those other things when you get to where you're (going)," he said.

In 1977, the federal standard for median width with no guardrails was 30 feet. But as growth and traffic and speeds increased, Florida decided to require guardrails on any median narrower than 64 feet, and that has been FDOT's standard since 1991.

"Our new medians are at least 88 feet, well above the standard," Kile said. "We thought this was plenty of room for a driver to regain control of a vehicle that left the road, but, apparently, it isn't."

FDOT began to notice the trend in crossover crashes more than two years ago, and commissioned a study that determined 80 percent of them happened within a mile of interchanges. In the five-year study period, I-4 had 206 crossover accidents, more by far than any other interstate in Florida.

"They seemed to be caused by people jockeying for position to get off of the interstate or onto it," said FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson.

District 7, which includes Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties, devised a $50-million program that included 97 new guardrail projects on I-4, I-75 and I-275. The recent accidents prompted officials to move up the I-4 work by two months.

"It was the best we could do," Carson said.

The new guardrails along I-4 are called thribeam, Carson said. The metal sides ripple, and each has three humps. Two-hump beams and even metal rope barriers will be used on other roads, she said.

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise just completed a $54-million program that installed guardrails along 203 miles of median statewide.

--Times staff writer Brian White contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 2, 2005, 07:18:09]