Why isn't there a divider all through I-75 and all major roads with multiple lanes? (Jacksonville: how much, home)

[bentlebee]

One person killed, another injured in Interstate 75 crash

This could be prevented by simply putting a divider to divide the meridian with maybe a small opening to let emergency vehicles and police go through in case of an emergency. That will save life's.

Over a decade ago we crashed on I-75 due to hydra plane and we were lucky that on that part of I-75 the divider was in the works as we hit 13 poles and got to a stop facing south bound while driving north bound. We didn't hut any other car and we're driving at a low speed due to the weather. Frankly I believe we crashed due to the right wheel breaking off which only within month of the crash was a recall for the brand/model we drove. But of course we have no proof and since nobody was injured we never looked further into this but the fact remained that the right wheel had risen off but officially it was noted as hydra plane.

Even though only the poles were put up and not the divider itself it saved our life's from not going over the meridian to the south bound lanes.

Why this is still not in place for most parts of I-75 is mind boggling to me. Our accident was over 12 years ago so enough time to have more dividers placed on the stretch of I-75.

[EngGuy]

There is either guardrail or high tension cable barrier through most, if not all, of the interstate medians throughout Florida. From what it looks in the article, the southbound vehicle hit the guardrail in the median, and the person was ejected from the vehicle. Since both sides were closed, I am going to assume that the body was ejected toward the other side of the road, and probably some debris crossed over as well. Can't get ejected if you are wearing a seat belt.

[bentlebee]

On St Rd 54 there is no meridian even though it was just altered to 3 lanes each direction but the meridian was made with a little lower part in the middle and I'm not sure how much good that will do in case of an accident.

Since parts of the stretch on 54 allow a driver to drive 60 mph and of course most drivers will drive even faster, in case of an accident it will means the speed will be similar to driving on I-75 ad IMO it should also have a guardrail/divider to safe life's. JMO.

[The Chap]

A major "cluster" resulted from this accident due to someone at the DOT not paying attention. The electronic message boards that helpfully display traffic info indicated, north of the apex, that I275 was closed due to the accident. So everyone reads that and moves left in preparation... only to get up to the apex, where we all learned that it was in fact I75, and not The Deuce, that was closed.

We would have been better off if no message had been posted at all.

Attention to detail, DOT = FAIL

[upgrader]

Yup, these signs aren't working out well. Last week on my drive to Sarasota, I75 had a message stating "accident in left lane at mile marker" xxx. So everyone moved over, caused a jam, and by the time we got to xxx the police had moved the accident cars safely off to the (median) side of the road. Maybe it's a learning curve. The "sign people" need to account for the distance of the accident from the sign. This accident was 10 miles away. Would have saved a lot of traffic if they had posted "accident ahead, at mile xxx, drive with caution", and updated with "accident, cars in left median, drive with caution".

Originally Posted by The Chap

A major "cluster" resulted from this accident due to someone at the DOT not paying attention. The electronic message boards that helpfully display traffic info indicated, north of the apex, that I275 was closed due to the accident. So everyone reads that and moves left in preparation... only to get up to the apex, where we all learned that it was in fact I75, and not The Deuce, that was closed.

We would have been better off if no message had been posted at all.

Attention to detail, DOT = FAIL

[jwolfer]

Guard rails or physical barriers are becomming more common on divided highways because there are studies showing it increases safety.( Common sense tells you it would be). Another concern is an out of control vehicle being ricocheted back into traffic going the same direction

It is probably a budget constraint or the portion of the highway is planned for upgrade soon. Generally when the road is widened a guard rail is put in

[EngGirl]

I think contacting FDOT will be more effective than asking questions here...

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by EngGirl

I think contacting FDOT will be more effective than asking questions here...

True. They probably have details of accidents but if they get lots of complaints they may hasten a barrier.

I noticed last night driving home on I295 in Jacksonville a repaving project that did not add lanes included median barriers being installed.

Compared to many states, Florida is excellent at maintaining highways

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by jwolfer

Compared to many states, Florida is excellent at maintaining highways

It helps that we don't have the harsh freezes that tear up the roads up north.

[bentlebee]

Of course contacting FDOT will help a lot but usually the amount of registered accidents and unfortunately amount of accidents with fatalities will increase the chance that something will be done.

Aside from that the amount of articles and post online will also increase awareness.

I still don't understand that on roads like St Rd 54 there are still exits with no exit lane so if someone in the right lane is making a right turn than it creates a dangerous situation especially as many drivers haven't paid off their blinkers as they don't seem to work

With all the road work at least you would expect all right turn streets to have a exit lane.