Church influences investigation of deadly curve

Monticello residents long have referred to a section of U.S. 278 just east of the Drew County seat as "Dead Man's Curve," a dangerous stretch of highway that catches many motorists unaware if they aren't careful or they are unfamiliar with it.

Nothing had been done about the section for years, even though crashes on it are common, frequently resulting in injuries and sometimes even death.

The indifference of the community changed when a young Alabama woman lost her life on that S-shaped curve one morning in August.

Carly Avery, a civil engineering student at Mississippi State University, was living in Monticello for the summer while she was employed as an intern in Arkansas City at the Clearwater Paper's Cypress Bend mill, which produces paperboard.

It was raining when Avery headed east on the highway from Monticello on Aug. 1 for the 40-minute drive to the mill in her 2006 Scion. She tried to negotiate the curve at 6:20 a.m. and lost control of her car, according to the preliminary crash report from the Arkansas State Police.

The car crossed over into the westbound lanes and into the path of a 2014 Freightliner tractor-trailer.

She was 21 years old when she died that Friday morning.

Three days later, Kenneth Roberts asked the members of his adult Sunday School class at First United Methodist Church in Monticello to pray for Avery's family. Roberts had gotten to know Avery through his job at the mill, said Dalene Stephenson, a member of the class and the church secretary.

They prayed, but they also concluded that praying wasn't enough this time. It was hard to explain precisely why, the Sunday School members said. They just knew.

"It just struck us," recalled Cliff Gibson, a member of the class and an attorney in Monticello. "It troubled us. Somebody so young. It was time to do something.

"And we did."

The class drafted Gibson to write a letter to the state Highway and Transportation Department, which was signed by two dozen members of the class. Other members of the congregation also signed it -- 52 people in all.

The letter noted that "many here in Monticello have been touched by the tragic auto accident that took the life of Carly Nicole Avery, age 21, on August 1, 2014."

It contained a request:

"Our purpose in writing you is to respectfully request the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to immediately take all necessary actions to take out 'Dead-Man's Curve' in Hwy 278 just east of Monticello.

"The unreasonably sharp double curve/incline configuration of this part of our local highway system has played a significant role in causing many auto accidents over the years, including a number of fatal accidents. We have little doubt that it played a major role in causing the death of Carly."

The letter, dated Aug. 10, was addressed to Robert Moore Jr., a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission from Arkansas City, and to Scott Bennett, the Highway Department director.

Even before the letter was in the mail, the department had taken note. An Aug. 4 email from Tim Kelly, the district maintenance engineer for the area, to Brian Berthlaume, a department accident investigator, documented it.

"We had another accident this weekend where someone lost their life," Kelly wrote in requesting the agency look at approving placing rumble strips on that section of highway.

Rumble strips, a series of small divots that often line the edges of the road or sometimes the middle, have been widely used for decades as a safety feature on interstates and other highways. Whenever a tire goes over a rumble strip, the resulting loud noise is designed to startle drivers enough to steer their vehicles back onto the road and thus prevent a crash.

A safety study was initiated. Such studies document the types of crashes, the rate of crashes and what the department can do to make roadway sections under study safer.

The study found that the section studied actually had a rate of crashes that cause fatalities or serious injury that was slightly below the statewide average for similar roads, but its overall crash rate was higher than the statewide average.

"The most telling thing we learned from the study is that wet pavement crashes occurred at a rate over three times higher than the statewide average," Bennett said in a statement last week announcing a series of improvements.

The statement noted that even before the study had been completed, larger "Sharp Curve Ahead" signs had been installed at the westernmost curve. Rumble bars have also been added across the travel lanes at the sign locations to further alert motorists of the curves ahead and the need to adjust their speed accordingly, the department said.

Also as an interim measure, a department maintenance crew removed and replaced the top 2 inches of asphalt from the highway within the S-curve and added new markings. That work was completed last week.

The new driving surface and stripes will increase traction and visibility through the area, the department said.

Meanwhile, last month, the commission authorized a safety project to install a "high-friction surface treatment" through the westernmost curve of the study area. The treatment, which involves etching the pavement surface to promote drainage and improve the ability of tires to adhere to the roadway surface, is used on roadway sections that are the scene of a high percentage of crashes on wet roadways.

"The HFST is a relatively new process that has yielded good results in reducing the number of wet pavement crashes in the areas where it's been installed," Bennett said. "Because of temperature restrictions for applying the treatment, the work cannot begin until next spring.

"We believe the changes that have already been implemented on this highway, combined with the HFST, will greatly enhance safety in the area in a relatively short period of time."

The safety study also identified this section of U.S. 278 as an area where the installation of center- and edge-line rumble strips would improve safety. A project to install rumble strips on several highways in south Arkansas, including this section of U.S. 278, will begin in the spring, according to the department.

The study also recommends straightening "Dead Man's Curve," but the process to do so isn't a simple one, Bennett said.

"Realignment of the curves is not something that can be accomplished in a short period of time," he said. "We must go through the detailed federal environmental studies, acquire the necessary additional right of way, and relocate utilities to accommodate the work. Therefore, no time frame has been established for the ... work."

In the meantime, the department will assess the impact of the changes it is making and schedule the curve realignment "as funds and conditions warrant," Bennett said.

All the attention the road has received from the department in recent weeks left the First United Methodist Church members a little surprised.

"We are just so pleased that our government was responsive and that something is going to happen," Gibson said.

Metro on 12/08/2014

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