The in basket: Ken Hovater writes,”A couple of years ago the county installed several feet of heavy duty guardrail on Long Lake Road. At the time I believe the reasoning was to bring the road into compliance with a highway construction standard.
“I am wondering when and if the state is going to do the same work on Highway 160 (Sedgwick Road). There are some very deep valleys in spots along that road. A crash into one could prove fatal.”
The out basket: The county project on Long Lake Road came out of a safety grant received for that purpose.
Sedgwick is a state highway and Olympic Region spokesperson Claudia Bingham Baker says, “Guardrail is usually installed when we have an active project in an area. At present, we have no projects planned on SR 160, so no plans to add guardrail along the highway.
“Our maintenance crews replace and repair damaged guardrail, of course, where it already exists,” she said. State crews here just did that, replacing the guardrail around the Highway 16 overpass in front of Peninsula Subaru in Gorst. It had been mangled for the second time in a couple of years and was replaced Sept. 4.
Claudia continues, “We have many areas along our state highways that have dips along the roadway. Guardrail itself can become a hazardous object motorists can hit, so it’s installed only in areas that meet certain criteria. Even then, we do not have the funds to install guardrail in all the areas that could benefit from it.”
It’s always about he money…. until “the deciders” of such highway safety programs need a raise, then funds don’t seem to be an issue. Community Safety ~ always at the bottom of the list. Makes me sick. With the amount of traffic on HWY 160 {aka Sedgwick Rd.] and the amount of accidents and deaths, an upgrade to include a center turn lane all the way from 16 to the Ferry, guard rails along the way at the steepest cliffs and a decent shoulder would prevent so many accidents.