Date:  Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Contact: Dustin Terpening, WSDOT communications, 360-757-5997 (Burlington)
Chris Damitio, Project Engineer, 360-788-7400 (Bellingham)

LYNDEN – Crews will install cable median barrier along Guide Meridian (SR 539) in a continued effort to improve safety and relieve congestion between Bellingham and Lynden. The barrier will help prevent dangerous crossover and t-bone collisions.

Over the next several weeks crews will install the cable median barrier from Ten Mile Road north for three miles to Wiser Lake Road. The barrier will extend another mile north to Fishtrap Creek before the project is completed.

The barrier will help catch errant vehicles from crossing the median and colliding with oncoming traffic, and it will restrict left turns on and off the highway.

There were 53 people injured in 55 collisions along this section of the Guide from 2002 to 2007. The two most prolific kinds of collisions were crossover/head-on collisions with 27, and enter-at-angle/turning collisions with 26.

While left turns will be prohibited at most intersections and driveways, roundabouts have been strategically placed at four key intersections – Ten Mile Road, Pole Road, Wiser Lake Road and soon to be River Road - to help drivers get where they want to go safely.

The barrier has an added benefit for WSDOT maintenance crews. It will allow north Whatcom County’s typical blowing, drifting snow to move across the highway unimpeded without building hazardous snowdrifts.

The cable barrier and roundabouts are part of a larger $106.7 million project, paid for with 2003 gas tax funds, that will transform the Guide Meridian into a dramatically safer and less congested four-lane divided highway from Ten Mile Road to Lynden. More details can be found on the project Web page - www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR539/TenmileBorder/ - or on the project blog – http://guidemeridian.blogspot.com.  

To view pictures of cable barrier successfully catching and stopping vehicles from crossing medians across the state, view WSDOT’s Flickr.com picture account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157605592668076/.

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