MARYSVILLE – Sections of a cable barrier in the I-5 median in Marysville have been lying flat on the ground since October.
Commuters who regularly drive along the route, including State Sen. Val Stevens, want to know why.
“How long does it take you to get out there and put it back up?” asked Stevens, R-Arlington.
Drivers were never in danger, state officials said. A new, second set of cable barriers has been in place since October.
Work on another length of cable barrier was underway again Tuesday, and is expected to be complete by the end of the month. Officials estimate the project is a month behind schedule because of poor weather.
The cable barrier in the northern part of the county came under scrutiny after several accidents where vehicles crossed the median into oncoming traffic, which caused the deaths of seven people between 2000 and 2004.
More than half of those deaths occurred in an area where the cable barrier was not installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions, a state investigation determined.
The state Department of Transportation is now reinstalling the barrier according to those specifications.
For additional safety, they also have installed a second cable barrier in the trouble area.
The project is the last step in a $2.4 million upgrade to the cable barrier along 10 miles of I-5 in Marysville.
Dave McCormick, who’s in charge of the state’s cable barrier program, said construction crews have been taking mile-long stretches of the barrier out of service so that sections of the median with steep slopes can be leveled out.
The ditch in the middle of the median contributed to the crossover accidents, McCormick said.
The barrier failed at an abnormally high rate because some cars slipped under the cables, McCormick said.
The second set of cables is intended to fix that problem, he said.
The work is about a month behind schedule because of bad weather, Phelps said. The goal is to finish by the end of the month.
Stevens said she doesn’t like the cable barrier. She wishes the state had put guardrails or concrete barriers in the median.
“They claim they’re as good as concrete or rail, but I don’t agree,” she said. “I’m thinking in regard to a semi-truck. I look at those 18-wheelers when I drive beside them, and their tires are higher than my windows.”
Concrete barriers and guardrails work better in more urban areas, where medians are narrower, McCormick said. Cables are better in locations where there is more room, because they absorb and diffuse much of the strength of an accident, which in turn reduces the severity of injuries.
“The investment in cable barriers does save lives,” McCormick said. “We feel that it’s the best barrier for situations like those up in Snohomish and Skagit counties. Clearly there’s a place for other kinds of barriers.”
No barrier could prevent all vehicles from crossing into opposing traffic. Each section of freeway is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, he said.
The state recently agreed to pay the Holschen family of Bothell $2 million after a crossover accident killed 18-year-old Megan Holschen and injured several other members of the family.
Two other families are negotiating with the state or are said to be considering lawsuits after similar crossover accidents occurred in the Marysville area.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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