HELENA — New posts along the interstate aim to make it easier for first responders to find where they need to go.
“This is going to make a huge difference. They have to think more about the patient, the crash, their own safety, and the safety of the traveling public instead of thinking about where to turn. It’s the simple wins in the end, but those simple fixes make a big difference,” said Chris Dorrington, director of the Montana Department of Transportation.
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The posts are delineators that are used to control traffic.
The new blue ones are for emergency vehicles, showing them that an “Authorized Vehicle Only” crossover is coming up in 500 feet.
Rep. Scott DeMarios, D-Anaconda, used his experience as a firefighter to propose placing better signage at the emergency vehicle crossovers.
“If we’re missing that turnaround, it might be the next exit, it might be the turnaround. It could be one mile; it could be five miles. That’s a time thing, and when you have people injured on that side of the road, we really want to get over there as fast as possible," he said.
The idea did not take the passage of legislation or a significant investment to take effect. All it needed was a conversation.
“We all get elected, and we come up to Helena with all these grand ideas, and we think that everything requires a bill. I think what I’ve learned from this is everything requires communication. If we can start there across the board, we can get ahead,” said DeMarios.
Montana Department of Transportation is placing the delineators throughout the state, and the agency has installed 2,500 so far.
