Transportation Department installs cable rails along portion of I-15

In just the last five years, there have been 58 reported accidents on a short stretch of I-15 near Inkom. The Idaho Transportation Department said between approximately mileposts 55 and 57 near Inkom is a dangerous stretch. ITD said it’s a common area for accidents and slide-offs.

Because of this, ITD said the Idaho State Police came to the department and asked if something could be done to help. ITD did its research and finally decided a cable rail would be the best option.

Brian Poole, engineering manager with ITD, said there was a lot of thought put into adding this rail.

“One thing that we have to look into is anytime we put a safety feature out there that it also becomes a hazard,” Poole said. “So we have to look at the risk if having it there is better than another application.”

It felt a cable rail was the best option. ITD said the reason that stretch is dangerous is because it’s so narrow. The north and sound-bound lanes of traffic are fairly close together. So if someone slides across the median into oncoming traffic at 80 miles per hour, it would cause a very serious, likely fatal, crash.

So ITD said it’s hoping the cable rail will help prevent those median crossovers.

“By installing cable rails like this in certain locations, we’ll definitely make it that yeah, if you slide off, you probably will damage your car a little bit, but you’ll survive the accident,” Poole said. “Versus, if it wasn’t there, maybe not.”

Poole said one benefit of the cable rails is it has less of a hard-hitting impact on the cars than a metal rail would. So it could cause slightly less damage.

Poole said the cable rails are also a lot easier and a lot quicker for them to replace. They have a permanent base with a sleeve. So when the posts are hit, ITD just has to take off the old pole and drop a new one on, then tighten the cables. With a metal rail, often large parts of the railing have to be replaced. Poole said it’s also hard this time of year to replace metal railings because the ground it frozen at the base.

The rail was completed Wednesday and Friday, a car had already hit it. Poole said the person was able to drive away from the accident and there seemed to be minimal damage, so it looks like the rail did its job.

This is the first cable rail project in district five, which includes Idaho Falls to the Utah border.