Virginia Beach, Va. (WTKR) - The City of Virginia Beach has completed safety improvements along a section of Shore Drive.
The Public Works Traffic Engineering department was asked by a citizen in October to review the existing safety measures.
Of particular concern was the tight curve east of First Landing State Park near the back gate access point to Fort Story.
18 crashes had been reported in that stretch over the past 5 years, with 39% involving excess speed and 28% involving driver impairment.
"A good portion of them were going into the median and hitting the trees. So we figured in order to protect drivers from hitting the trees, the guardrail is a correctable answer," Senior Traffic Engineer Mike Shahsiah told NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Thursday.
400 feet of new guardrail was installed along the westbound side of Shore Drive, with another 900-feet along the eastbound side.
"We are going to keep an eye on the area, do a follow-up investigation, see if any other measures need to be taken," Shahsiah stated.
Crews also installed new curve warning signs along both directions of Shore Drive and trimmed any vegetation covering existing signs.
