Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6, JULY 6, 2009, THE ISLANDER
Problems with wall
Continued from Page 1
The Causeway improvement project
Thaw was referring to was completed
in April of 2007.
Accidents have dropped since that
project was finished.
According to Chief Doering's statis
tics, there were 37 total accidents on
the Causeway in 2006. Eight of those
resulted in 13 people being injured, with
one head-on collision and one fatality.
In 2007, there were 46 accidents
split between the city and county police
departments. Thirteen of those resulted
in 19 people injured, with two fatalities
and one head-on.
In 2008, accidents were back down
to a total of 36 for both police depart
ments. Ten of the accidents resulted in
19 people being injured, with two fatali
ties and two head-on collisions.
At the half way point of 2009, from
January to mid-June, there have been
six accidents, with no injuries, no fatali
ties and no head-on collisions.
Doering's statistics show that in
2008’s two fatality accidents, both head-
ons, one driver was driving under the
influence of alcohol and the other is
believed to have been distracted with a
laptop computer while driving.
By comparison, Doering points out
that the Causeway is not the most dan
gerous road in Glynn County.
That dubious honor goes to the
stretch of Hwy. 17 from the intersec
tion of Chapel Crossing Rd. north to the
McIntosh County line. Chapel Cross
ing Rd. is just north of the Brunswick
Country Club.
In 2007, there were 61 accidents on
this stretch of Hwy. 17 with 2 fatali
ties.
In 2008, there were 47 accidents
with one fatality and from January to
mid-June this year there have been 26
with no fatalities.
Doering said that increased police
visibility, active and consistent law
enforcement, on the Causeway has also
been a big factor in the decreased acci
dent rate on that road.
Thaw said, "I understand the wall
will eliminate head-on collisions, but
I worry that overall it will cause more
problems than it solves. There will still
be accidents and there will still be inju
ries and fatalities."
"When we first went to the DOT in
2004 and asked for improvements to
the Causeway," Thaw explained, "they
said, 'you don't want a wall.' There's no
money for it, the road isn't wide enough
and the bridges are not built for it."
The bridges were not designed to
carry the dead weight of a wall and
they do not have emergency lanes. The
Causeway shoulders are also very nar
row.
"That's when it was decided to widen
the road and add the rumble strips and
extra lanes," said Thaw.
Another of Thaw's concerns, one that
Chief Doering shares, is the fact that
the barrier will greatly reduce emer
gency access to accidents on the Cause
way and traffic will back up much
worse than it does now.
"What will it be like when we have
the first bad accident on the Causeway
after the wall is up?" asked Thaw, "We
may have to shut down both sides of the
road. We won't have the center emer
gency lane any more because that's
where the wall will be."
"A big part of our job as commission
ers is the safety of the citizens," said
Thaw, "but there are other roads in
Glynn that are more dangerous than
the Causeway that need to be improved
for safety reasons."
Back in January of this year, Thaw
even went as far as to send a letter to
then-DOT Commissioner Gena Evans
stating, “I feel it is necessary to go on
the record that I am not in favor of a
concrete barrier being installed on the
F.J. Torras Causeway. After numer
ous meetings with the DOT, local and
district representatives, it was stated
emphatically that this would create
even more danger.”
“If barriers were to be installed,”
Thaw continues in his letter, “traffic
delays would be tripled each time there
is an accident. Along with this concern
is my greatest fear of limiting emer
gency access to the accident scene or
any other area.”
On February 25,2009 Thaw received
a response to his letter from DOT Chief
Engineer Gerald Ross, P.E.
Along with stating that the DOT has
entered into a design-build contract
for the barrier project, Ross said, “The
department (DOT) has taken an ambi
tious approach to improving the safety
of Torras Causeway in response to
recent fatalities and public safety con
cerns related to head-on crashes on
Torras Causeway.”
Continuing, Ross stated, “The depart
ment’s (DOT) crash records indicate
that eight head-on crashes occurred
between December 2007 and March
2008, resulting in a combined total of
five fatalities.”
Ross’s statement is incorrect and
in direct conflict with Chief Doering’s
statistics which show two fatalities in
all of 2007, one fatality in February of
2008 and one in March, 2008.
Doeing said Ross received the correct
information but has never sent a letter
confirming the correction or acknowl
edging his error.
Doering is also concerned that the
barrier project is going forward based
on incorrect accident statistics.
“He should have sent a corrected
letter about this,” said Doering, “so the
barrier will not be based on incorrect
information about head-on collisions.”
Asked if he had seen the updated
barrier plan, Doering said he hadn’t.
“At our last meeting with the DOT
and the BATS (Brunswick Area Trans
portation Study) group, I think they
said the updated plan would be ready
in 30 days, so it should be ready soon,”
said Doeing.
The original barrier plan included
only one break for access by emergency
vehicles. It was located between the
Back River and Little River Bridges.
Doering told the DOT the lack of
access would cause problems because
the bridges do not have emergency lanes.
He said emergency response workers,
police and EMTs, would have to get
to the accident site by way of the other
side of the Causeway and then climb
the wall to get to the accident victims
and then bring the injured back over the
wall - a time consuming process.
At the BATS meeting about a month
ago, the DOT agreed to add two addi
tional emergency vehicle access points
in the barrier. One between the Bruns
wick end of the Causeway and the Back
River Bridge and another between the
Little River and McKay River Bridges.
Doering is still concerned because
the barrier, even with the additional
access points, is still going to greatly
hamper rescue efforts when there is an
accident.
Nor does Doering know yet exactly
where the additional access points are
going to be located.
Another concern about the access
points is, while they may be fine for
police cars to get through, larger emer
gency vehicles, such as ambulances
and fire trucks, may have difficulty
negotiating them, which will slow down
response time even more.
Nor will the access points be good for
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