Massachusetts set for "massive expansion" of wrong-way driving prevention system to over 400 locations

Massachusetts is working on a "massive expansion" of its wrong-way driving prevention system in the wake of a State Police trooper's death, Gov. Maura Healey's administration announced Wednesday.

A pilot program developed in 2022 installed wrong-way traffic detection systems on 16 highway ramps across Massachusetts. Now, the state is spending tens of millions of dollars to put the systems in place at about 430 locations.

The governor and other public safety officials made the announcement at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Danvers, where Trooper Kevin Trainor was assigned. The 30-year-old was killed last month while trying to stop a driver who was going south in the northbound lanes of Route 1 in Lynnfield. The wrong-way driver also died.

Less than a month after Trainor's death, another trooper was injured in a wrong-way crash on the same highway in Peabody. That driver was charged with drunk driving and going the wrong way on a state highway. 

According to AAA Northeast, 135 people have died in more than 5,700 wrong-way crashes in Massachusetts between 2018 and 2015.

"I've ordered that this technology be out there as quickly as possible, deployed in all the places that present dangers and problems," Healey said. "We sadly cannot change the past. But we can do what is necessary to ensure that tragedies like this don't happen again."  

New wrong-way detection system already working

Highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver said the newly activated technology stopped a driver going the wrong way just hours earlier in Danvers. 

"The driver was alerted that they were going the wrong way and they turned themself around without incident," he said.

The pilot program installed the wrong-way detection devices in 16 locations, including I-95 in Burlington, Route 128 in Danvers and Route 3 in Plymouth. Gulliver said the state is spending up to $75 million on the "massive expansion."

Wrong-way driving "detection zones"

Gulliver said new cameras will create "detection zones" to identify drivers going the wrong way up a ramp and trigger the prevention system. Implementation will take place throughout this year and next.

"It flashes the illuminated wrong-way signs, it activates an audible warning and then it automatically sends out both a call to state police and MassDOT's coordination center," he said. 

The investment will also be used to enhance pavement markings that tell drivers which way to go, as well as look at technology that can send dashboard messages to other drivers about an incoming wrong-way car.

State Sen. Bruce Tarr of Gloucester has said there are as many as 2,600 places in Massachusetts where wrong-way prevention systems are needed. The Massachusetts Senate voted last month to approve a budget amendment to require new infrastructure and training for police on how to deal with wrong-way driving incidents.   

"We await what will be the very welcome signature of Gov. Healey on language that will make this effort and others like it the law of the land," he said.

Some lawmakers have been looking to Connecticut, where there are more than 200 cameras on highway entrance ramps throughout the state. That system has encouraged more than 950 wrong-way drivers to self-correct since Dec. 2023, and the state has plans to double the number of cameras in place.