A stretch of Novelty Hill Road, east of Redmond, is one of two road corridors in East and Southeast areas of King County that will receive traffic safety improvements because of federal funding from the Rural Safety Innovation Program (RSIP).

The $200,000 grant will provide 80 percent of the funding to complete the improvements on Novelty Hill Road from the vicinity of 243rd Avenue Northeast (east of Redmond Ridge) down to West Snoqualmie Valley Road Northeast (near Duvall); and on Southeast Holm Road between Auburn and Enumclaw.

Traffic on the opposite side of Novelty Hill Road, between Redmond Ridge and Avondale Road, has increased dramatically in recent years — and overall, this steep and winding road can be quite hazardous when wet or snowy.

However, the United States Department of Transportation made money available specifically for “rural” road safety and was looking at crash issues that could be mitigated in such areas, explained Matt Nolan, manager of traffic engineering for King County.

The stretch of road that will benefit from the RSIP grant was chosen because “it is curvy, steep and handles a lot of traffic, about 13,000 cars a day,” Nolan said. “We look at collisions across the county and study areas that need improvement. Between 2003 and 2005, we had nine collisions in that area.”

That number has stayed “relatively constant,” he added. As the county has analyzed traffic patterns, in three-year increments, it’s seen an average of about three serious collisions there each year, “not even allowing for close calls or incidents where someone bumped the guardrail.”

The county’s goal, while using the RSIP funds on Novelty Hill Road, is to reduce collisions in the affected area by at least 30 percent. To achieve that, they’ll introduce ways to remind drivers to adapt to driving conditions.

“Our engineers researched and found solutions using emerging technology and applying it to the age-old problem of accidents caused by vehicles running off the road,” stated Norton Posey, program manager for the project. “This creative approach caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation and put us in the running for these grant funds.”

Improvements will include installing warning flashers that detect the presence of approaching vehicles, driver feedback signs that measure and display the speed of approaching vehicles and message signs that warn drivers when they are going faster than the advised speed limit.

Nolan said a particularly treacherous spot is a tight curve about 1,000 feet west of West Snoqualmie Valley Road, near the bottom of the hill. There’s a posted speed limit of 45 mph in that general vicinity, but the county wants drivers to slow down to 20 mph on that curve.

“Our crews do a good job of clearing and sanding roads, but weather can catch people unaware,” Nolan stated.

Part of the process of getting this grant money entails following up after the safety improvements are installed and then gathering and sharing data to be given back to the federal government and used to improve safety in other locations.

“The competition for these funds was intense and only 19 projects out of 96 nationwide were awarded grant funding,” said King County Road Services Division director Linda Dougherty. “We are very glad to have this financial boost to improve safety in unincorporated King County.”

The federal RSIP program is part of a $287 million national effort to help local and state governments reduce crashes on dangerous rural roads. Designs for the two projects in King County will start late this year and are expected to be completed in 2009.