An independent expert was hired Monday to help the state figure out whether cable barriers are being used properly, including along a deadly stretch of I-5 in Marysville.
Since 2000, eight people have died in cross-median accidents along a 10-mile stretch of freeway near Marysville that is equipped with cable barriers.
Most recently, Cliff Warren of Everett died after a crossover accident on Feb. 13. That accident spurred Gov. Chris Gregoire to ask for an outside review.
“There seems to be controversy all around the country in regards to the cable barrier,” Gregoire said Monday.
Gregoire said the external review will be important in figuring out why cable barriers appear to work well in most of the state, but not so well in Marysville.
Gregoire said she’s not so certain cable barriers alone are to blame.
“When I look at the last accident in Snohomish County I am not convinced, and I admit that I am no expert, that it is not about the geography of where that cable barrier is located,” she said.
The state on Monday hired freeway median barrier expert Malcolm Ray to conduct the external review, said John Conrad, assistant secretary for the state Department of Transportation.
Ray, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., is scheduled to be paid $20,000 to prepare a report for the governor and the Department of Transportation by the end of April.
“He’s pretty well-known for his expertise and analysis of roadside safety,” Conrad said.
Conrad said Ray will take a statewide look at cable barriers, but also will focus on Marysville, where the majority of fatal crossover cable barrier accidents have occurred.
The state has invested heavily in cable barriers in recent years, maintaining that they are safer than concrete Jersey barriers or steel guardrails.
It spent $8.8 million to install 80 miles of cables in eight counties between fall 2005 and late summer 2006. The work included adding a new section of cable barrier along I-5 from north of Stanwood to Mount Vernon.
“(Ray) will be looking over our shoulder at the analysis that we’ve done,” Conrad said. “He’ll look at what is going on in other states as well.”
Ray could not immediately be reached for comment.
The state conducted an investigation into the effectiveness of the barriers after a 2005 analysis by The Herald showed that along a 3-mile stretch of I-5 in Marysville, the barriers failed to stop cars in the median 20 percent of the time.
That was in sharp contrast to statewide results that showed the cables stopped cars more than 90 percent of the time, the analysis found.
The state also studied, and in Marysville concluded, that a ditch in the median allowed smaller vehicles to slip beneath the cables 13 times between 1999 and 2005, including one fatal accident.
Most of the fatal accidents, however, have involved large vehicles, including in one instance a large truck towing a trailer. The vehicles have sliced through the cables, crossed the median and smashed into oncoming traffic.
Last fall, the state spent $2.4 million to install a second set of cable barriers, level the ditch and relocate portions of the old cables. They believed the second barrier would eliminate the duck-under accidents.
The second cable barrier did not stop the vehicle in February’s fatal accident.
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