The Department of Transportation will install rumble strips on Route 1 in Damariscotta, Edgecomb, Newcastle, Nobleboro, and Waldoboro this summer.
The department will advertise for bids in May and determine the exact dates for the work after it selects a contractor, according to an April 10 letter from the department’s project manager to town officials.
The contractor will install rumble strips on the centerline and on shoulders where the shoulder width exceeds 4 feet.
Rumble strips greatly improve highway safety, according to a Maine Department of Transportation brochure.
The brochure cites a decrease in fatal, head-on crashes in one area from eight in the six years before a 2006 rumble strip project to zero in the six years after the project.
Seventy percent of Maine highway fatalities occur when drivers leave their travel lane and drive off the road or into oncoming traffic, often due to fatigue, distraction, speed, or intoxication. “The most effective and proven prevention to date is the rumble strip,” according to the brochure.