About two dozen highways in Arkansas are set to receive a new pavement treatment that’s aimed at reducing crashes during wet weather, according to Arkansas highway officials.
High-friction surface treatment is now used on some Arkansas interstates and has been modified for use on non-interstate roads, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort said.
“It’s a different treatment for the same problem,” Ort said.
Treatment on the non-interstate highways will focus on curves, where a disproportionate number of fatal traffic wrecks occur, Ort said. An epoxy coating will help drivers in braking and in keeping control of their vehicles.
Highway department officials identified about 1,200 miles of non-interstate highways that had average daily traffic of 1,000 vehicles or more and on which wet pavement was a factor in at least 35 percent of the total crashes, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Areas set to receive the pavement treatment are: La Harpe Boulevard in downtown Little Rock; Arkansas 5 in Garland, Saline, Lonoke and Baxter counties; Arkansas 7 in Clark, Garland and Boone counties; Arkansas 72, Arkansas 102 and Arkansas 279 in Benton County; and Arkansas 65 in Chicot County.
The estimated cost for treating the 22 locations is nearly $3.6 million, but the Federal Highway Administration said the added cost is offset by the treatment’s durability, the newspaper reported.
Topics Arkansas
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