YORK COUNTY — They’re noisy when tires encounter them, and they’re supposed to be.

Centerline rumble strips save lives, according to  the state’s transportation department.

Folks in some parts of Sanford and Waterboro will see installation of the strips sometime later this year.

Sanford Public Works Director Matthew Hill told the City Council on Tuesday that centerline rumble strips will be  installed on Route 4 and Route 109 this summer.

On Route 109, the rumble strips will be installed south of the Route 99 intersection to the Wells town line.

On Route 4, they are to be installed from School Street north to the urban compact line and continue towards Route 202.

In Waterboro, Town Administrator Gary Lamb said they’ll be installed on Route 202 from about Straw Mill Brook Road to the Mast Camp Road intersection, just before Hannaford and Woodsome Feeds and Needs.  

Hill said the strips reduce fatalities, alerting drivers when they drift onto the center line.

The strips are installed in locations where the speed limit is 45 mph or greater.

According to Maine Department of Transportation, 70 percent of Maine highway fatalities take place when drivers leave their lane of travel and drive off the road or into oncoming traffic.  

Over the past decade, there have been 8,000 head-on crashes in Maine, resulting in 355 fatalities.

The DOT says drivers leave their lane of travel because they’re distracted, because of driver fatigue, unsafe speeds or alcohol and drugs.

Maine’s first rumble strips were installed in 2006 and centerline strips are on portions of 15 routes throughout the state.

They were installed along  Route 111, in portions of Alfred, Lyman and Arundel  in 2013.

Rumble strips were also installed on portions of Route 4 in Sanford toward North Berwick that same year.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.