Rogers' Diamond Surface will donate rumble strips on deadly stretch of Hwy. 12

A Rogers company has stepped up to put rumble strips on a 6-mile segment of Hwy. 12, where two fatal crashes have occurred this month.

Diamond Surface, Inc. said it will donate the time and materials totaling $15,000 to put the strips down the center of the two-lane highway between County Road 6 and the Maple Plain border. The company also will install them from the railroad bridge on the west end of Maple Plain to County Line Road, which serves as the border between Delano and Independence.

Weather permitting, the work will take place Saturday.

"It's very exciting that people are stepping up," said Chief Gary Kroells of the West Hennepin Public Safety, which serves the communities of Maple Plain and Independence. "Our citizens will be happy. It's something we have to try."

The company's donation comes a day after the newly formed Highway 12 Safety Coalition met in Delano to talk about ways to make the highway safer. The coalition composed of representatives from Orono, Delano, Maple Plain, Independence, Howard Lake and other communities along Hwy. 12 had proposed rumble strips as a remedy. The Minnesota Department of Transportation had said it would add rumble strips, but not until 2015.

"We are local and we have families in the area," said spokesman Andy McDeid, explaining why Diamond Surface is doing the work for free. "We are not busy at this time of the year and we have the equipment and the people."

Diamond Surface, Inc. is the only rumble strip company in Minnesota and has worked with MnDOT on past projects. It also works on road project across the country.

Rumble strips are effective in preventing head-on collisions and opposite-direction sideswipes, the Federal Highway Administration said.

The last two fatal accidents involved vehicles crossing the center line. On Tuesday a 55-year-old Richfield man was killed just east of County Road 83. On Dec. 2, a 24-year-old Plymouth woman died in a crash involving a UPS truck just east of Maple Plain.

"Adding rumble stripes won't eliminate the possibility of head-on crashes all together, but it will go a long way toward reducing these often tragic incidents by alerting motorists who cross the centerline," said Scott McBride, a MnDOT Metro District engineer.

Hwy. 12 was built in the 1930s as a rural highway but still meets standards for road design, said MnDOT said. But traffic volume has increased as population in cities such as Delano, Howard Lake, Waverly, Maple Plain and points west has risen. Traffic on Hwy. 12 in western Hennepin County has swelled to 15,000 vehicles a day, by MnDOT counts.

On Saturday, crews will work from east to west, starting about 7 a.m. near Orono and finishing in Delano. The highway will be controlled by flaggers. Motorists should expect delays and drive with caution, MnDOT spokesman Nick Carpenter said.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768