No, they’re not building a skinny sidewalk out there on Highway 87 headed out to Cuero. Since April, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has been working to implement it’s latest safety improvement project in DeWitt county.

Besides curious emails from residents, I frequently travel along Hwy. 87, making weekend jaunts to the Hill Country to visit my friends from Texas State University. I thought it was a sidewalk at first as I drove past it at 75 miles an hour.

But when you look closer at the width of the cement, you realize you’d basically have to walk one foot in front of the other to walk on it. And, the metal poles sticking up along the way might get in the way.

The skinny sidewalk and the metal pole and cables are a part of a $2.5 million Highway Safety Improvement Program by TxDOT. This project goes from 2.291-mile marker South of US 183 to Victoria C/L, spanning about 10 miles.

TxDOT is in the process of installing cable barrier medians in an effort to significantly reduce the risk of cross-median crashes. Cable barriers are made of steel cables that are strung up on posts.

The job of these barriers isn’t to necessarily stop the vehicle. When a vehicle hits the barrier, the cables will deflect and absorb the impact energy and slow the vehicle down and redirect it. They are meant to detach from the posts.

Cable barriers reduce the risk of crossover crashes and, most importantly, lower the chances of a head-on collisions, which are major causes of fatalities on Texas roadways.

Compared to concrete barriers or guardrails, cable barriers are more cost-effective to install, repair and maintain over time.

In 2022, a review of four TxDOT districts (Lufkin, Pharr, Waco and Forth Worth) showed the success of cable barriers. The barriers were installed in 2019 and, by 2022, the barriers have been hit and repaired 242 times.

In Texas, from January to August 2022, there were 84 fewer fatalities compared to the same time in 2021. The state saw a 9% drop in distracted driving deaths and an 18% decrease in work zone fatalities throughout 2022.

So far, a little over $1.2 million has been spent to install the 10-mile long cable barrier. The barrier varies from side to side every couple of miles, sometimes hugging the Southbound lane, sometimes hugging the Northbound lane.

The next time you are on your way to Cuero or beyond, remember Texas isn’t just No. 1 in energy production and business. The state is also No. 1 in fatal car accidents in the U.S.

In this column called Ask Madison, Madison O’Hara, a Victoria native and Advocate reporter, answers questions readers have about anything and everything to do with the Crossroads. Email your question to Madison at askmadison@vicad.com or call her at 361 580 6558.