Highway guard cables helping to prevent crashes in Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) ? Cable barriers installed along stretches of Iowa?s interstates are helping to prevent crashes by stopping cars from crossing the median into oncoming traffic, authorities said.

The barriers began going up about two years ago, and police and highway officials told The Gazette hat they are paying off.

?I think they?ve made a tremendous difference,? said Coralville Police Lt. Shane Kron. ?It?s an impressive system.?

Cable strung along a line of posts has been a roadside fixture in much of the country for more than 80 years, according to an Iowa State University report for the Iowa Department of Transportation. In the 1990s, several manufacturers developed high-tension cable barriers ? three or four cables tightened to 2,000 to 9,000 pounds of tension, which are supported on breakaway posts and anchored at both ends.

The cables are designed to stop vehicles in the median. Cable-barrier collisions tend to be less violent and cause fewer injuries than those involving conventional steel guard rails, said Cathy Cutler, the transportation department?s district transportation planner in Cedar Rapids.

?There?s been times the cars hit the median at a pretty good clip, and there?s no question it?s stopped them from coming into the oncoming lane,? said Lt. Randy Jones, commander of the Iowa State Patrol?s district in Cedar Rapids.

?Those posts snap off really easy, and those cables tend to dig into the front end and hold it rather than bouncing it back out,? he said.

Iowa?s five-year plan calls for cable barrier along 210 miles of Interstates 80 and 380 by 2015. The project will cost nearly $14 million ? $66,000 per mile.

Cable barriers are relatively inexpensive to install, but do require repair costs after being struck, the ISU report said.

Research in other states found a high cost-benefit ratio, the report said. The North Carolina D.O.T. estimated its low-tension cable barriers saved 96 lives and $290 million between 1999 and 2003, but the ISU researchers noted variations in traffic density and other factors make it difficult to reliably estimate cost-benefit factors.

Some drivers, however, don?t believe the cables are safe. They?re often going up in spots where there were previously no barriers, which could pose a hazard for motorcyclists.

?We don?t really care for the cable barriers,? said Phil McCormick of Clear Lake, state coordinator for ABATE of Iowa, a motorcyclists? group. ?The steel ones are better. I guess, looking at them, I?d rather not hit either of them.?