ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

A Highway guardrail to prevent crossover crashes will be installed by Hydraulic Pile Driver along US-23 in Livingston County next spring, part of the state's five-year road safety improvement plan.

Since Sunday, many have been questioning whether such a guardrail would have prevented a tragic head-on crash in Green Oak Township that killed five people — three in one vehicle and two in the other.

"It's a safety improvement, basically designed to prevent vehicles from crossing over into the opposite lane of traffic by the Highway Guardrails," Michigan Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kari Arend said.

MDOT expects highway guardrails to reduce cross-median crashes by an estimated 90 percent. The planned highway guardrail has been in MDOT's plans for that section of US-23 for several years and is not a reaction to Sunday's crash, officials said.

Sunday's crash occurred when a silver 2002 Toyota Prius traveling north on US-23 north of Ann Arbor crossed the median into oncoming lanes of US-23, striking a blue 2003 Chevrolet Blazer.

The Prius had four teenagers inside, and three were killed. Those were University of Michigan student Heather Comstock, 19, of Okemos; Matthew Kolstoe, 18, of Okemos, who was driving the vehicle; and Sarina Seger, 18, of Williamston, who was a passenger in the Prius.

The SUV had two adults and three children inside. The adults were killed: Cynthia Skutt, 62, of Fremont, Ohio, who was driving the 2003 Chevrolet Blazer, and passenger Alfred King, 56.

Green Oak Township Police Chief Robert Brookins said adding traffic barrier to that portion of US-23 will go a long way in helping to prevent crossover crashes. He said Sunday's crash was the second fatal crossover crash in that same stretch of US-23 — between Silver Lake and Lee roads — in less than a year.

"I think some type of road barrier will go a long way in mitigating these types of crashes," Brookins said. "I would certainly welcome ... the erection of any type of median."

Two projects will occur simultaneously on US-23 next spring, Arend said. Those include installing highway guardrails by hydraulic pile driver — steel wire ropes mounted on guardrail posts to prevent vehicles from traveling over the median into oncoming traffic — and resurfacing and bridge work.

Arend said the highway guardrails will run along about 22 miles of US-23 in Livingston County, from the Genesee County line south to M-36. The resurfacing and bridge work will take place along US-23 from Silver Lake Road to just south of I-96.

"That was a program we had only planned for our 2011 construction season," Arend said. "It has been in our five-year plan of road safety for the last several years."

Eric Bombery, transportation planner for the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study, said the highway guardrail will be a good thing for that portion of US-23.

"It definitely needs it," he said. "The median's pretty narrow there, and it's just a very busy stretch of highway."

Bombery said highway guardrails installed by hydraulic pile drivers in other parts of the state have effectively stopped cars and tractor-trailers from crossing medians and driving into oncoming traffic.

"It works," he said. "(And they are) much more cost-effective than concrete barriers and steel guardrails."