Rumble Strips - does your state still use them?

[nwi_navigator_1181]

In our vacation to Cleveland two weeks ago, I came across something on the Ohio Turnpike that I thought was of a bygone era: on-road warning rumble strips, in advance of a toll booth. Does your state still use them? Indiana has shied away from them.

The Indiana Toll Road used them (at least at the west gate) and turned away from them around the turn of the century. There's still evidence of them at the east gate, but they seemed to have been grounded out (rather than grooved into the pavement, similar to the shoulders). They even stopped the practice of using them to warn drivers of an impending construction zone. I know they also existed on Indiana 63 between Terre Haute and the northern terminus at U.S. 41, as a warning to drivers that are approaching traffic signals. (Do they still exist?)

As for Ohio, they use them on the Turnpike off ramps (I believe mainly on ramps that are designed for high speeds, such as the ramps for I-90 and I-480), and especially at the "Dead Man's Curve" in downtown Cleveland (that's at I-90 and Ohio 2, for those who are unfamiliar with the terminology. Traffic is required to slow to 35 mph before approaching the curve.). Any other examples?

As always, thanks in advance for your responses!

[DaBigE]

WisDOT still has them as standard detail drawings: http://roadwaystandards.dot.wi.gov/standards/fdm/SDD/13a08.pdf & http://roadwaystandards.dot.wi.gov/standards/fdm/SDD/13a09.pdf.  They're not usually placed right away, (out of "respect" for those living near them), but rather as part of a progressive set of safety improvements when a compliance problem is perceived. 

The specific project(s) escape me at the moment, but centerline rumble strips were going to be placed as part of a safety improvement project.

[JREwing78]

Michigan is a heavy user of rumble strips, whether it's on the shoulders of freeways and heavily-used 2-lanes, or as center rumble strips down the middle of many 2-lane highways. They don't use them in a temporary fashion to warn of construction and the like.

I'm not sure about how other states treat them, but Michigan seems fairly conscientious about creating breaks in the center rumble strips for intersections and driveways, so as to not "train" people to ignore them at other times.

[hobsini2]

Illinois used to use them as well for the Toll Plazas but no longer do. The only place the still exist as far as I recall is on I-190 before 2 sweeping curves coming into O'Hare and 1 curve leaving O'Hare.

[vdeane]

Rumble strips are on the way out?  They're everywhere in NY near heavy construction and toll booths.

[Alps]

NJ Turnpike Authority, but mostly on the Garden State Parkway, uses large, thick stripes across the roadway in advance of toll plazas, that essentially mimic rumble strips (if you're blind, but there are other issues there...). There are/were rumble strips for I-80 WB Exit 43B to I-287 north, but they haven't been maintained so they've been worn down into the pavement. NJ doesn't use them often but I wouldn't say tehy're "on the way out."

[huskeroadgeek]

Nebraska uses them on the shoulders and is in the process of adding them on the centerlines of 2-lane highways as well. They were in the news just this week after a head-on collision on NE 2 in central Nebraska killed 3 people. Although they likely wouldn't have prevented the accident in question as the accident was caused by one of the drivers having a medical episode, it was an occasion for NDOR to talk about the current project to add them on centerlines on some of the heavier traveled 2-lane highways(NE 2 in central Nebraska was already one of the roads scheduled to receive them).

[PurdueBill]

Nebraska uses them on the shoulders and is in the process of adding them on the centerlines of 2-lane highways as well. They were in the news just this week after a head-on collision on NE 2 in central Nebraska killed 3 people. Although they likely wouldn't have prevented the accident in question as the accident was caused by one of the drivers having a medical episode, it was an occasion for NDOR to talk about the current project to add them on centerlines on some of the heavier traveled 2-lane highways(NE 2 in central Nebraska was already one of the roads scheduled to receive them).

I think the thread is going more for rumble strips across lanes that all traffic drives over, not the ones along shoulders or centerlines.

Rumble strips I experience frequently are at the US 30/I-71 interchange, where there are bad curves on the loop ramps, unfortunately right before the merges onto I-71.  There had been truck rollovers among other mishaps, and now there are flashing lights, arrows, and rumble strips that get closer and closer to each other.  (It's too bad that the interchange can't be redone so as to not require slowing down to 25 mph for a tight curve right before having to floor it to merge into the 70 mph traffic, but in all likelihood we are stuck with what's there for a long time.)

[Eth]

Here in Georgia, I know of a few in Newton County on state highways approaching stop signs, and I would wager they're probably common in other rural parts of the state as well.

I've also seen them in Alabama approaching several traffic lights on US 431 between Eufaula and Dothan, though I haven't been down that way in a couple years.

[bulldog1979]

Michigan uses them in the manner the OP discussed. On the Marquette Bypass (US 41/M-28) there are rumble strips eastbound as you approach the roundabout with Front Street. There are also rumble strips on I-75 approaching the Mackinac Bridge toll booths southbound and where the speed limit drops to 55 in St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. They've also added them to both highways at the eastern M-28 and M-123 junction how that it is a four-way stop.

[bugo]

There are quite a few in Oklahoma (warning strips in advance of a stop sign or something similar) but I don't know if they're still building them.  I assume the toll booth warnings will remain.

[huskeroadgeek]

Nebraska uses them on the shoulders and is in the process of adding them on the centerlines of 2-lane highways as well. They were in the news just this week after a head-on collision on NE 2 in central Nebraska killed 3 people. Although they likely wouldn't have prevented the accident in question as the accident was caused by one of the drivers having a medical episode, it was an occasion for NDOR to talk about the current project to add them on centerlines on some of the heavier traveled 2-lane highways(NE 2 in central Nebraska was already one of the roads scheduled to receive them).

I think the thread is going more for rumble strips across lanes that all traffic drives over, not the ones along shoulders or centerlines.

Well, then we have those too-particularly on heavily traveled routes approaching a traffic light. I know they exist before approaching the traffic light at US 75 on NE 2. I actually haven't paid that close of attention to them, but I seem to recall them elsewhere too. I know for a fact they exist at the location above because I travel that route frequently.

[kendancy66]

On the transition from Paseo De Valencia to Cabot Rd south, they use Botts Dots to create two rumble strips before the merge.

[MASTERNC]

The PA Turnpike frequently uses them in advance of toll plazas.  The most annoying part though is they did not take them off the E-ZPass Express lanes at the Mid-County Toll Plaza when they demolished the center of the old toll plaza.  Several of the ramps west of Philly have rumble strips in advance of the toll plaza (from the US 222 exit or approaching the Turnpike on I-176).

There are also rumble strips near major curve ramps where rollovers are known to occur (the most infamous one is the I-79 north interchange at I-70 in Washington, which is being replaced).

Finally, I know PennDOT District 1 has used temporary rumble strips (ground into an overlay of asphalt) prior to construction zones where crossovers are involved.

[roadfro]

I have not seen Nevada DOT use rumble strips across a lane in this manner. NDOT's use of rumble strips has been extensive for the shoulders of rural highways and interstate freeways, and is becoming increasing common along the centerline of two-lane highways.

NDOT has used thermoplastic white lines as well as Botts Dotts in the southern part of the state to act as permanent "rumble strips" across a lane. This is usually on long-distance highways on approach to a town, to call attention to the decreased speed limit through town. A well-placed cattle guard often achieves the same effect in northern areas of the state--I have seen NDOT use white lines on pavement along with the usual posts to simulate a real cattle guard also.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Obviously not a state, but rumble strips are common in Ontario as well. They are used in a variety of locations, not just beyond the edgelines of freeways. The east end of the 407 has rumble strips in advance of the traffic signal at Brock Road. The ramp from Hwy 401 east to the northbound 400 also has them to warn people to slow down.

Ontario was a late adopter of rumble strips, they only started appearing on our freeways just over a decade ago. There use seems to be increasing, a few centreline rumble strips have been cut into some two lane provincial highways, and a couple of counties are installing them beyond the edgelines of new roads now.

[national highway 1]

In New South Wales, I believe the only place where I've seen them used is at the northern end of the F3 (Sydney-Newcastle) Freeway, which ends at a roundabout with John Renshaw Dr and Weakleys Dr.

[Special K]

In Iowa, rumbles are used in advance of an at-grade intersection and along expressways and freeways.  Some centerline applications as well.

[codyg1985]

I've also seen them in Alabama approaching several traffic lights on US 431 between Eufaula and Dothan, though I haven't been down that way in a couple years.

I believe Alabama still uses them. About 15 years ago they used raised reflectors to mimic what the raised rumble strips do now.

[agentsteel53]

the Bay Bridge.

good heavens the fucking Bay Bridge. 

really, guys, it's just a curve.  deal with it.

[hbelkins]

You can find them in Kentucky in quite a few places.

When the westernmost section of the Mountain Parkway was rehabbed about 12 or so years ago, concrete rumble strips were installed in the westbound lanes as the two lanes taper to one prior to I-64. The interesting thing here is that each of the two westbound lanes has a different spacing of the strips, so they make a different noise and cause a different vibration in the vehicle. I really should get a picture sometime.

[BamaZeus]

I've seen them on back roads in Alabama and Mississippi in advance of an intersection, after a long distance without one.

[1995hoo]

The Delaware Turnpike used to have three sets of rumble strips on the southbound approach to the notorious Newark Toll Plaza. They made a rather loud noise when you drove over them that caused my younger brother to call them "fart strips." I haven't gone through that way in several years, so I don't know if they're still there now that the toll plaza has been rebuilt.

[hm insulators]

One example in Arizona: the south end of Arizona 143 where it ends at I-10; there's a light just south of the interchange where the expressway becomes a surface street.

[txstateends]

The Dallas North Tollway used to have grooves into the concrete pavement in advance of the cash lanes; there were I think 3 sets, with 4 grooves in each set.  TollTag drivers got no such welcome--they just zipped right by.  Since the Tollway and NTTA's other tollroads have gone all-electronic, there's no reason to stop and the grooves are gone now.  IINM, there are still some kind of botts-dots arrangements at both the north and south tollbooth entrances at DFW Airport.