HomeMy WebLinkAbout20193756.tiffOFFICE OF BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PHONE: 970-336-7204
FAX: 970-336-7233
1150 O STREET
P.O. BOX 758
GREELEY, COLORADO 80632
July 5, 2019
The Honorable Elaine Chao
Office of the Secretary
US Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20590
Dear Secretary Chao:
On behalf of Weld County, we are writing to express support for the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT)
application for funding under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Better Utilizing Investments to
Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary grant program for their statewide project focused on
deploying median cable steel rail barrier throughout the state.
The state of Colorado continues to face severe and growing transportation problems that threaten the safety of our
roadways. Roadway, lane departure, and crossover crashes on divided roads can be some of the most severe and high
profile types of roadway departures in our state. Deployment of median cable barrier, such as a steel rail is a proven and
cost-effective strategy that can reduce the frequency and severity of these significant crashes. In Colorado, evaluations of
cable steel rail barrier have proven successful with benefit cost ratios between one and six, elimination of head on
collisions, and reduction of fatal crashes by 70 percent. In the project locations median crossover head-on and sideswipe -
opposite -direction crashes for these locations have been reduced by 100 percent, and fatal crashes reduced by nearly 70
percent.
CDOT continues to monitor the health of their roadways and identify areas where data driven strategies can drastically
increase safety. The locations in CDOT's BUILD proposal do not have a median barrier and are areas throughout the
state that have significant roadway departure crash data,
Weld County strongly recommends this project for BUILD grant funding as median cable steel rail barrier can drastically
improve the safety for our traveling public. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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ara Kirkmeyer, Chair
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