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Commissioners weigh center buffers as low-cost safety option amid design and maintenance concerns
Summary
At the work session, commissioners and consultants debated center buffers — striped or rumble-strip medians — as a lower-cost alternative to concrete medians on high-risk, high-density roads; discussion covered design variations, winter maintenance and trade-offs with turning access.
A sustained exchange at the work session focused on whether to include center buffers as a prioritized safety treatment for certain high-density county roads. County staff and consultants described center buffers as a lower-cost measure — often striped with rumble strips or delineators — that can reduce cross-over and head-on crash risk while still allowing turning maneuvers, unlike concrete medians.
One staff member argued that center buffers are "the cheap fix in the meantime" on corridors that are not yet at a stage for full reconstruction. Consultants cautioned that center buffers come in many designs and must be targeted to the highest-risk highways; they cited Polk County and other state examples while noting winter maintenance and turning/access trade-offs for some sites. Commissioners asked that staff identify specific candidate segments from the draft project lists so the board can weigh the safety benefits against lane geometry and maintenance concerns before any decision is made.
