Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday announced a series of upgrades and modifications that are being made on Massachusetts highways to prevent wrong-way driving.
The effort comes following a series of fatal wrong-way collisions including the May 6 crash in Lynnfield that killed Mass. State Trooper Kevin Trainor.
The governor was joined by officials including Public Safety and Security Secretary Gina Kwon, Undersecretary of Transportation and State Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police Geoffrey Noble, and State Senator Bruce Tarr.
The event was held at the Massachusetts State Police Barracks in Danvers.
Healey said the state is investing almost $75 million in upgrades to improve road safety.
"We are replacing and expanding our pavement markings," she said. "We're improving ramp design, when necessary. We're going to have more signs on both ramps, going both ways, as well as on our roadways."
The state is also adding new signs that will have flashing LED lights, and "new sensors to alert law enforcement when a wrong-way driver is traveling down the road," Healey said.
The changes are being made at 400 different locations throughout the state focusing on roadway entrance and exit ramps where drivers have been known to get on the road going in the wrong direction. The governor said the new technology is making a difference.
"This morning on the way up, I got word from MassDOT and the State Police that one of these very new technologies that we implemented actually stopped a wrong-way driver on the road this morning," she said. "Already we know this technology matters and it means something."
Healey also urged the public to stay alert, vigilant, and sober whenever they get behind a wheel.
"Look out for others. Look out for who you're hanging out with. Make sure that somebody doesn't get in a car when they shouldn't be driving," the governor said.
WBZ NewsRadio's Mike Macklin (@MikeMacklinWBZ) reports.