Barriers Coming to site of Crash that Killed 4 NDSU Freshmen - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

It was the crash that took the lives of four NDSU freshmen last february as there car slid through a median and was hit by oncoming traffic, that tragedy helped push the minnesota department of transportation to do something.

"It's another example why we need to do these thing," says Tom Swenson, Minnesota Department of Transportation. Something that would help save lives and cut back on tragedies like the one that happened last February. "These catastrophic accidents don't need to happen," says Swenson. The solution, median cable barriers, something you see here located in the Twin Cities, but for the first time will be added to stretches of Interstate 94 in Alexandria, where the crash took place, a stretch in Fergus Falls, and in Moorhead. "They really are helpful in serious injuries," says Swenson. Now each barrier will stretch close to ten miles and will be completed sometime this summer. The price tag is around $100,000 dollars for about one mile but the DOT says you can't put a price on saving a life. "Just think those visits from the trooper won't have to be made."

 But what about Minnesota's neighboring state, North Dakota. Do median's appear along their highways? "In their guidelines, it doesn't fit requirements here," says Robert Fode with the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Just last week, 6 men were killed when their vehicle slid through the median and hit an oncoming vehicle. "This may sound cold but if we designed something 100 % safe. We could, but we wouldn't be able to afford it," says Fode. With the number of fatalities up in North Dakota, it's not known if they will add barriers, for Minnesota's DOT, they hope to add more down the dangerous roads.

 Right now, there are two concrete barriers located on I 94 and I 29 in Fargo but no cable median barriers are located on any highway in the state. Cable medians are about $300,000 cheaper per mile than concrete barriers as well.