PennDOT to Install Barriers on Recently Fatal Stretch of I-78

The time has come, PennDOT officals say, to install median cable barriers along I-78 from exit 60 (Route 309 south) to New Jersey. The decision, and its transition from concept to reality, comes just days after a fatal crossover accident that killed a Lower Saucon man this week.

On Jan. 25 Maxwell Musselman, who was traveling westbound, crossed over the grassy median into oncoming traffic and hit a minivan. Musselman was declared dead at the scene. He is the second crossover fatality in the past year.

According to the most recent national Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, Pennsylvania ranks fifth in highway fatalities. And that stretch of I-78 has several issues that make it a more accident-prone. Accidents, such as the jackknifed tractor trailer Jan. 26, can be the result of the steep incline and decline in that area.

“There are hills on that stretch of 78, which causes a slower interaction between [commercial and residential] traffic, which causes friction” said Ron Young, PennDOT spokesman for Lehigh County. “That kind of friction between drivers can be unsafe.”

Several incidents along that stretch of I-78 have led to fatalities. In fact, in the past 18 months, there have been five fatalities on that roughly seven-mile stretch of road, as well as dozens of accidents.

Two separate fatal accidents happened within a 24-hour period in Sept. 2010. In 2009, a truck headed eastbound flipped.

As to crossover accidents, according to state regulations, the current lack of a physical barrier is legal.

“The clearance [that the median provides] meets all the criterion for appropriate highway safety,” said Young. “There’s enough space that a driver should be able to stop or recover without going into oncoming traffic.

A cable median barrier, however, will provide additional support to hinder additional crossover accidents, Young said. Construction on the barriers is slated to begin this spring. 

Update: According to a 2008 New Jersey Transit Planning Authority (along with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and New Jersey Transit) I-78 corridor transit study, truck traffic accounts for up to 40% of morning rush hour traffic.