The Crow Wing County Highway Department said the installation of chevron road signs has led to a significant reduction in run-off-the-road crashes on county roads.
At Tuesday's county board meeting, Tim Bray, county engineer, said the highway department has been active in seeking Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds to place the signs after determining some installed in 2009 on seven different county roads reduced crashes by 60 percent. Those funds covered the full cost of this year's installation.
Chevron signs are the yellow signs with black "V" shapes, or chevrons, which direct traffic around curves.
"This particular type of sign has proven to be one of the most effective in terms of preventing run-off-the-road crashes," said Bray. "In rural areas, run-off-the-road crashes outnumber intersection crashes. It's one of our more common occurring crashes."
Commissioner Paul Thiede said this information was what, in part, convinced him of the efficacy of the project.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I was one of those people that was not convinced when we started this project that it was what we wanted to do," Thiede said. "I have since been convinced based on that (crash reduction) figure."
The national average is closer to 25 percent, Bray said later by phone, and if the county had looked at a longer time period or more roads the figure likely would have been closer to that number.
"A 25 percent reduction in crashes is pretty substantial, also," Bray said.
The Crow Wing County Board approved a final payment for more than 2,000 curve chevron signs installed this year on county roads.
In 2013, the county installed about 700 signs on 150 curves and 300 signs were installed in 2009. Bray said some particularly problematic curves were also addressed in previous years.
Bray told the board the project is about 98 percent complete with "these safety improvements on every curve in the county system" except County State Aid Highway 36, which is slated for reconstruction next year.
The signs have drawn the ire of some people, however. Both Bray and Thiede said they've received complaints about the signs.
"They are not without controversy. I get plenty of calls saying, 'We do not like sign proliferation. We come up on vacation to get away from the signs,'" Bray said. "My response to that call is that they save lives, they're very cost effective and you get your bang for your buck with them."
ADVERTISEMENT
The final cost with contractor JAAK, LLC was $175,854, which ended up 3 percent below the original projected cost.
