Opinion ID: 2209506
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Situation of Culvert and Headwall

Text: Highway 136 was designed and originally constructed in 1955. The culvert and concrete headwall into which Woollen's car collided were installed during the highway's original construction. The culvert is a steel pipe, 48 feet long and 72 inches in diameter. The concrete headwall for the culvert was situated approximately 12 feet from the southernmost edge of the highway's paved surface. At the time this portion of Highway 136 was built, no standardized design safety guidelines had been adopted by the State to govern placement of the culvert and headwall in relation to the edge of the roadway. There was no evidence that the original design and construction of Highway 136 were negligent. The safety standards introduced into evidence at trial addressed proper situation and clear zone dimensions for obstacles or structures located off the paved highway surfaces, such as the culvert and headwall into which Woollen's car collided. At all relevant times in the case at bar, the lateral clear zone at the accident site from the southern edge of Highway 136 to the culvert and headwall was 12 feet. According to the safety standards, lateral clearance of at least 20 feet from the pavement edge should be allowed when the average daily traffic (ADT) on a road is between 400 and 480 cars. In 1972 and 1973, when Highway 136 was resurfaced, the ADT was 570 cars, and it was projected that by 1992, the ADT would be 1,025 cars. The 1992 minimum design standards adopted by the State provided that for ADT between 850 and 1,700 vehicles, a 23-foot lateral clearance should be provided for any off-pavement structure. At the time of the accident, the only warning sign near the culvert was a single post with three reflectors in a vertical configuration that marked the culvert headwall. Batterscher and Kimberly Koch, percipient witnesses to Woollen's accident, were both familiar with Highway 136 and drove it frequently. Both witnesses testified that the culvert and headwall which Woollen's car struck were not easily visible to motorists. Batterscher, a lifelong resident of the area who had driven on Highway 136 for years, testified that before Woollen's accident, he did not know that the culvert and headwall were there. The evidence showed that the 3R Project was designed, inter alia, to correct these dangerous conditions. The State did not implement the changes recommended by the 3R Project. The State did take steps to warn motorists of the dangerous highway surface after Woollen's accident.