The Peru Gazette

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the award of more than $32 million to help local governments enhance safety on their roads by reducing instances of vehicles inadvertently straying from their lanes and lessening the severity of crashes that result from those instances. The funding is part of the State Department of Transportation’s comprehensive “Safe System” approach toward zero highway deaths and will support roadway improvements – including new guide rails, signs and pavement markings – in municipalities across the state. In New York State, 44 percent of crash fatalities occur when a vehicle departs from its lane.

“Keeping New Yorkers safe is my highest priority as Governor and that includes making every effort to improve safety on our roads for drivers and pedestrians,” Governor Hochul said. “This funding gives local governments the resources they need to save lives by implementing improvements that keep drivers more aware and reduce instances where they stray from lanes, which can often have deadly consequences. One death on our roads is too many, and we will continue to invest in proven solutions to enhance safety and achieve our goal of zero deaths on New York’s roads.”

Striving to achieve a Safe System Approach toward Zero Deaths, the New York State Department of Transportation in the summer of 2024 released theRoadway Departure Safety Action Plan, which calls for a comprehensive approach to be undertaken by NYSDOT and its partner agencies to reduce fatalities and serious injuries that result when vehicles inadvertently depart their lanes or the roadway. Under the plan, NYSDOT is focusing on engineering improvements, public education and awareness campaigns, and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee is coordinating law enforcement activities.

Funding for these projects was made available through the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Safety Improvement Program, which is intended to support the design and construction of countermeasures intended to reduce roadway/lane departures and lessen the likelihood that departure-related crashes cause death or serious injury. Such countermeasures include, but are not limited to, enhanced striping, curve warning signs, rumble strips and median barriers. Today’s announced funding complements an additional $90 million that has also been set aside for NYSDOT to make safety enhancements on roads in the state highway system. Locations receiving funding include:

North Country ($1.6 million)

• Town of Elizabethtown, Essex County – $1 million to install center line striping, edge line markings, enhanced curve signage and pavement markings, shoulder, remove fixed objects to widen clear zone on Lincoln Pond Road.
• Town of Malone, Franklin County – $400,000 to install guide rail on County Road 24.
• Town of Denmark, Lewis County – $200,000 to install guide rail on Deer River Road.