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NEW U.S. 35 LACKS SAFETY FEATURES
Very Limited Lighting, No Center Dividers 
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

When the new U.S. 35 was promoted by transportation officials,                                 it was sold to                                        taxpayers as the safe                               alternative to the old                                  U.S. 35 where more                                   than 120 people have                                died.

But after spending                              hundreds of millions of dollars, and after years of construction, when the new U.S. 35 opened June 15th, it lacked basic safety features found on highways across the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new U.S. 35 lacks roadside lighting, there are no stop lights at most of the interchanges, no lane-marker "dots," and there are no center dividers or cable barriers. In addition, in many places there are no guard rails. And, sound walls to protect adjacent residents from excessive traffic noise in their former quiet neighborhoods were left out of the design.

"When the road was designed, based on the traffic numbers, those were not warranted, as far as the signals," says design engineer," Dirar Ahmed. "This median is a safe median. In the future, if there is accidents, that will be evaluated."

Ahmed could not divulge when the traffic studies were last conducted.

"I don’t remember," Ahmed says. "It was very old, but we updated it every few years. When we first started doing the environmental, it was 15-20 years ago, but we updated it every few years."

A request for Ahmed to call back with the information has not been honored as of this publication.

As for the lack of lighting, Ahmed assures design standards have been met. And he tried to put a positive spin on the lighting situation, citing a few spots on the otherwise dark road.

"At the Buffalo Bridge, there is lighting there. There is lighting at the 34-35 interchange and at Interstate 64," Ahmed says. "This is a very safe highway, it follows federal and state guidelines. We would not just arbitrarily leave out lighting. "

Maybe not. But when this publisher drove the length of the new U.S. 35 at midnight from Interstate 64 to the Johnathan Higginbotham Memorial Bridge near Fraziers Bottom, the new highway was decidedly dark and that darkness could lead to dangerous situations.

And if center dividers and cable barriers are not important safety features, then why are they installed on highways across America?

"If accidents become a problem, we will explore those options," Ahmed assures.

Still Ahmed says the new U.S. 35 is a vast improvement over the old, dangerous two-lane.

"It’s going to be a million times safer than the yellow lines down the roadway," Ahmed says. "We are very proud of it."

Motorists are hoping that his pride translates into safety. And, despite the lack of safety features, are happy to have the new road.

"This is a huge improvement," says Michigan trucker Vince Arthur. "It's much nicer than the old road."

"It's nice to have the big trucks off the old 35," says Shirley Casto, of Pliny. "I can see the difference already."

"I think it's great," says Fraziers Bottom resident Tracy Tooley. "It's cut my time down coming to St. Albans for work by 10 minutes. But the Hurricane Creek Road intersection seems kind of odd."

That intersection, as well as the one at Staves Branch Road, has Putnam County officials extremely concerned, because of the lack of signals for vehicles trying to cross the busy four-lane.

The lack of traffic on the old U.S. 35 is a major step in the right direction for locals that have been dodging fast moving big rigs that have been involved in deadly and other tragic accidents for decades.

Tooley says the old U.S. 35 was "Like a ghost town. There wasn't any traffic."

And that, is music to the ears of transportation officials.

Plans for the extension of the new U.S. 35 to Henderson, in Mason County, have yet to be finalized. Officials are considering charging tolls the entire length of the road to pay for its final section.


Related articles:

More Concerns About New U.S. 35

New U.S. 35 Opening Delayed Until June

Officials Concerned About New U.S. 35