SACO — The Maine Department of Transportation would like to put rumble strips in the center median of a section of Route 112 to make the road safer.

In a city-sponsored neighborhood meeting at Saco Middle School Tuesday night, MDOT Safety Manager Duane Brunell gave an overview of the state’s plans to install rumble strips on a section of the highway in the fall.

Rumble strips are a series of raised strips on the pavement that alert drivers with sound and vibration. If installed in the center line, they can get the attention of a distracted or drowsy driver traveling toward oncoming traffic.

City Administrator Kevin Sutherland said after a fatal accident on Route 112 in December, he asked MDOT officials to review the route and help the city find a solution to make it safer.

The proposal would install a quieter form of rumble strips called sinusoidal, or mumble strips, in the more urban section from Louden Road to Heath Road, and standard rumble strips from Heath Road to Route 117.

Brunell said rumble strips are not a total solution to reducing head-on collisions, noting that they won’t be effective if someone is having a medical episode or if the car is traveling on black ice.

“I’m not selling you snake oil that this is the solution to everything, but it’s a darn good solution,” he said.

The state considers Route 112 to be a Highway Priority 2 Road, a category that includes 940 miles represent- ing about 4 percent of the total miles of roadway in the state but carrying 11 percent of the traffic.

The section of Route 112 is part of 175 miles of road MDOT plans to install rumble strips on this year, said Brunell.

Brunell said in the state of Maine, installing rumble strips in high traffic or high crash areas has reduced collisions by 35 percent and fatalities by 90 percent.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held at a later date.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.