Rumble strips to be installed next year on Rt. 202

Are you ready to rumble? This is what they'll look like. (Courtesy photo)

LEBANON - In an effort to decrease the high rate of accidents along Carl Broggi Highway, the state Department of Transportation will be installing rumble strips along portions of Route 202 in Lebanon next summer, a department spokesman said on Tuesday.

Rumble strips, often called “sleeper lines” or “drunk bumps,” emit an audible sound as well as deep reverberation that can alert drivers they are drifting out of their travel lane.

“We are constantly looking for ways to make highways more safe, and Lebanon has been identified as an area that could benefit from this,” said the DOT’s Ted Talbot.

Since the beginning of 2011 there have been more than 110 crashes along Route 202 between East Rochester and the Sanford line, according to figures released recently by Lebanon Assistant Rescue Chief  Jason Cole.

Many of them have been head-on collisions, and this is the type of crash that rumble strips can be most effective at averting, Talbot said.

Rumble strips will be placed along portions of the road deemed appropriate where the speed limit is more than 45 mph, Talbot added.

Planners will begin the process of determining those areas more closely after the start of the new year with installation sometime between early spring and mid-November 2014.

The rumble strips would be placed along the center line, which has been proved very effective in reducing head-on accidents in which one vehicle drifts into the path of a vehicle headed in the opposite directions.

Talbot noted they can help with drowsy drivers, those who have had a drink or two or distracted drivers, which have become of heightened concern in this era of texting and talking while behind the wheel.

Next summer’s rumble strip installation will be combined with a repaving project along Carl Broggi Highway already planned.

Cole said recently he would also like to see a turning lane in the area at Trains Quickstop, an area of several serious accidents in the recent past.

Talbot said the DOT would consider any such request by a municipality, but that request should be made immediately if the town wants it to be acted on next year since the agency would have to conduct its own traffic study before implementing any such improvements. 

“When a town requests action like that we are amenable, but they have to draft a letter and then we can have that conversation,” Talbot said.

Talbot added that rumble strips can be controversial as they do emit noise that can be heard readily by nearby residents on a quiet night.

However, the sound of a rumble strip could be the sound of someone’s life being save, says one rumble strip informational packet.