Looks like winter is officially here.

Snow is falling on the ground, the temperatures are falling below freezing, and with that, interstates and local roads are getting icy.

Back home in the Midwest, one could tell for certain winter had set in when dozens of cars could be seen in the medians along the interstates, often stuck in snowbanks from going off the road.

Which brings us to this week's topic, a serious one.

Trooper Tim Marks, a 23-year veteran of the Maine State Police force, called last week to bring attention to a lack of guardrails on certain parts of the interstate where the median is just wide enough so rails don't have to be erected, yet narrow enough so that a vehicle sliding or rolling through the median could end up on the other side of the highway.

Marks referred to a recent accident in Augusta, which claimed the life of 19-year-old Amanda Garwood of Winthrop. Garwood died Dec. 14 on Interstate 95 when, police say, a vehicle driven by Tara Gamwell, 25, crossed the median, overturned several times and came into Garwood's path. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

A guardrail in that spot could have made a difference, Marks believes.

"This is just awful," Marks said of Garwood's death. "I have been a trooper for 23 years, and I know there are times when a guardrail in that spot could have stopped an accident like this."

Marks said he doesn't necessarily speak for the rest of the Maine State Police force, but: "I'm a trooper, and when there's a safety issue, I'm obligated to say something. This is a public issue."

Officials from the Maine Department of Transportation say they aren't trying to ignore the problem by not putting up guardrails at narrow medians, but funding and stipulations hold them back, forcing the department to look to other solutions.

"We try to minimize where (guardrails) are put up but we recognize where they absolutely must be," Brad Foley, highway program manager, said.

"Minimize" doesn't mean the state can go willy-nilly and put up protective guardrails wherever strikes their fancy. Rules about where guardrails on interstates must be installed comes from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials. That's a nonprofit organizaton that represents all the states' transportation departments and makes standards for states, like having the same kinds of red stop sign and green road signs.

For the most part, Foley said, guardrails are put up on steep slopes, bridges and areas where high speeds are legal. The same goes for narrow medians, depending on the length of the clear zone (that's the length of distance between opposite lanes), which is usually under 30 feet.

But how narrow is too narrow? And might some deaths have been prevented had the rails been in place?

"Anytime someone goes through (a median), rails could have protected them to an extent, but at the same time, that rail can also be dangerous because people hit those and cause accidents as a result, too," Foley said.

"I don't disagree, but we must follow the standards and without knowing the specific details of each crash, it's hard to react to what we could have done."

For the most part, the number of fatal accidents caused when cars traverse a median and cause a crash is low, Foley said.

"That doesn't make them any less tragic," he continued. "We look at the statistics of crashes and where they happen. We ask ourselves, 'Can we use another barrier?' "

And, as it turns out, the Maine DOT can.

Starting next year, the department will start an experiment of sorts, using high-tension cable median barriers. These barriers, as their name suggests, are cable wires attached to posts.

The project will start in two places in southern Maine, and if Big Brother is feeling generous next year, a pending stimulus package might provide more funding to expand the project further in the state.

"They're a little more forgiving and easier to maintain," Foley said, in comparison to standard guardrails, which, if hit, have to be replaced and result in a lane shutting down while a crew replaces the rail.

With cable guardrails, a two-person crew usually can repair the cable without closing a lane.

Such barriers may prevent median breakthroughs and save lives.

"There's a limited amount of dollars," Foley said. "We have to look at what will have the biggest and save the most lives, which can be a difficult decision when you don't have an unlimited bank account."

Follow Meghan Malloy's commuter blog and track the cheapest gasoline prices in town daily at www.kjonline.com.