Hwy 12 car accidents on the decline

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Since it began, the Highway 12 median project sparked controversy, but the goal was to improve safety.

The project is complete and some early numbers show the new traffic pattern is working.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation says about 26,000 vehicles drive down Highway 12 every day. Before the medians were put in there were a lot of accidents.

Although the project got off to a bumpy start, traffic is now flowing more smoothly.

“Like anything, it takes us a little bit of time to get used to change and really with that change hopefully that will get better as well,” said Jamie McDonald District one construction engineer.

Car after car, drivers are adjusting to the new medians.

From Hwy 25 to Louisville Street MDOT says the number of crashes has gone down since 2015.

“We expected to see a reduction in crashes and really the numbers that we’ve gotten over one year really on phase 1 shows that we’ve had around 42% reduction in crashes,” said McDonald.

Fewer accidents was the goal behind the new traffic pattern and barriers.

“The biggest thing is from the MDOT perspective is that the safety was the number one desire from it and really really feel like we have seen in this one year and just the look of the numbers that we have that we really have gotten what we expected from the project,” said McDonald.

MDOT Construction Engineer Jamie McDonald says fewer crashes could save taxpayers money, in the long run.

“You actually cut down the number of people having to work those accidents either from a law-enforcement or from the first responder standpoint,” said McDonald.

While fewer wrecks make for smooth driving on a busy highway, many drivers say there’s still an inconvenience.

“They didn’t have to put all those curbs at on top of the street, and people are going to have accidents regardless,” said Andrew L. Jackson.

“It is aggravating sometimes when you’re trying to get somewhere like what I’m trying to get to work sometimes it’s a little difficult, but if it’s saving people from accidents it’s getting that rate down then I guess it’s a necessary evil,” said Ashley Miller.

McDonald says more data will be analyzed over time to have a complete picture on how well the medians are working to reduce accidents, which could take five years.