Will new roadway projects curb accidents?

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An interesting article appeared yesterday on Tuscaloosanews.com about Joe McInness, director of the Alabama Department of Transportation, and his plans for speeding up the state's roadway projects. Will his efforts actually help curb accidents on our roads?

On McInnes's agenda are everything from widening roads to lowering speed limits. The article gives him high marks on his plans for the state's roads from now until he leaves office in 2011.

McInnes' hit list includes these widening projects: I-20/59 in Tuscaloosa County; Alabama Highway 157 between Moulton and Cullman; U.S. 431 between Seale and Eufaula; U.S. 80 from Montgomery to Meridian, Miss.; U.S. 98 from Mobile to the Mississippi line; U.S. 82 from Tuscaloosa to the Mississippi line, and U.S. 411 from Gadsden to the Cherokee County line.

Apparently McInnes has been a part of Safe Home Alabama, a group seeking to lower the highway death rate in the state of Alabama.

A large map behind his desk details highway deaths and where they occurred. The group is pushing for tougher seat belt legislation. McInnes called the high number of highway deaths among people not buckled up "frustrating."