Improvements slated for dangerous road

• By Brent Curtis
  Rutland Herald

  STAFF WRITER | June 08,2013

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Valley News Photo Sue Minter, deputy transportation secretary, and Gov. Peter Shumlin speak about plans to improve safety on Route 4 between Hartford and Woodstock. From left are Woodstock Town Manager Phil Swanson, Rep. Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock, and Sen. John Campbell, D-Quechee.

  Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Friday some short-term safety measures for a dangerous section of Route 4 that has been the scene of three fatal crashes in three months this year.
  
  Since March, three crashes have claimed the lives of four people on portions of the winding two-lane highway in Bridgewater and Quechee. A head-on crash Thursday in Quechee sent a 72-year-old New Hampshire woman to the hospital in critical condition.
  
  The series of crashes prompted a meeting Friday in Hartford where Shumlin and members of the state Agency of Transportation, Windsor County senators and representatives and officials from Woodstock and Hartford sat down to hammer out some quick ways to improve safety.
  
  While Shumlin said it’s not clear why Route 4 has been the scene of an unusually high number of serious crashes this year, he said the $300,000 worth of improvements agreed on Friday is expected to make a difference.
  
  One of the improvements was being put into place on Friday — four portable message boards that planners say will advise drivers to stay alert and focused.
  
  “We want people to pay attention on the roads and just put down the cellphones and focus on safety,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter.
  
  The plan also calls for new paving over damaged portions of the road and installation of a center-line rumble strip to alert drivers when they veer into the oncoming lane.
  
  Minter said the rumble strips would be installed on curves in the road and straightaways alike, but not in villages along the highway where the noise from the vibrating devices might disturb residents.
  
  The rumble strips have been a safety measure long sought by Hartford Fire Chief Butch Sutherland.
  
  “I’ve been putting pressure on the state for 20 years to have those rumble strips installed,” Sutherland said. “A lot of people tend to hug the center line because the shoulder is so narrow and rough. I’m delighted that they’re going to put them in and the message boards too.”
  
  While the message boards were being put in place Friday, the paving improvements and rumble strips will take a little longer. Minter said the state will accept bids on the project next week with plans to begin paving the road as soon as possible in July.
  
  “Route 4 has obviously been on our radar,” sh said. “Every single accident, particularly fatal ones, we take seriously.”
  
  The state and the towns are also working on road improvement plans moving forward, including an engineering review to determine what further safety measures may be warranted.
  
  In the decade to come, Minter said, the state plans a major rebuilding of the road, including removal of concrete slabs that serve as the foundation of the highway.
  
  Those slabs, she said, have proven to be part of the problem as severe ruts have developed along the edges of the road in some places, leaving drivers with little room to maneuver.
  
  brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com